History has shown the futility of negotiating with China. For decades, U.S. administrations have tried engaging Beijing ― through Richard Nixon’s opening of China, Bill Clinton’s support for World Trade Organization membership and President Barack Obama’s short-lived “pivot to Asia.”

Each approach has been met with strategic exploitation by China. As every Chinese leader has repeatedly and bluntly stated, the U.S. ultimately aims to change China’s socialist system, and this “long-term, complex struggle” requires constant vigilance from Beijing.

Attempting a “Beijing-friendly” strategy through personal diplomacy and rational negotiation only emboldens Mr. Xi’s ideological crusade, as China has always believed that both “containment” and “engagement” are insidious designs aimed at the Chinese regime’s demise.

Today, China’s ambitions are accelerating, and Beijing’s goal is clear: global hegemony and the ability to dictate trade, security and governance policies on its own terms.

This vision is inherently incompatible with the principles of freedom, democracy and sovereignty that underpin the current international system.

To counter this existential threat, the U.S. and its allies must abandon all illusions of negotiation or compromise. China’s actions are driven by an ideological commitment to displace the U.S. and reshape the world in its authoritarian image.

A defensive posture is insufficient ― the West must launch an all-out offensive across economic, military and ideological domains in the face of this challenge. China’s momentum must be checked, and its ambitions must be actively dismantled.