If China were a truly Marxist state, there would be no discussion about a clash of civilizations with the United States; for a Marxist, the struggle is between classes, not nations. China is not a Marxist state, however; its effective ideology is Chinese exceptionalism. That means the question of a clash of civilizations makes perfect sense.
The problem with the theory is that other nations which were heavily influenced by Chinese culture–most notably, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan–are American allies. I can’t see how that fact can be reconciled with the notion of some kind of American struggle with a Chinese cultural sphere of influence.
The real issues between America and China pertain to their very different political systems and to China’s drive to dominate its near abroad. In other words, a model based on ideology or foreign policy realism works better than one based on culture to explain the differences between the two countries.