there's a weird belief that if only the US says the magic words - it's not against China! it's against the CCP! it's against Xi Jinping! - the Chinese public will decide to sit the new cold war out, or turn against the party, or something.

It's not happening.

If the public ever turns against the party on a large and actionable scale, it'll be because of domestic issues the U.S. plays a very minor role in. For the foreseeable future, the public is nationalist, and weakly-to-strongly (depending on mood) backs the government.

there's work that can be done in 'laying the groundwork for good public relations in a post-Xi or possibly post-party era' but it's long and slow and involves a lot of carefully judged contacts and offering opportunities while being aware of risks

don't deport people's uncles, offer lots and lots of opportunities to come to the U.S., make sure there's a genuinely free Chinese-language media among the diaspora, that kind of thing. No magic word solutions.

the value in making a distinction between the CCP and China is mostly to dissuade racist shitheads at home. The CCP is never going to recognize that you made that distinction, or even let most mainlanders *hear* that you made that distinction.