The idea of a “multipolar world,” where great powers can coexist within separate geopolitical spheres, is increasingly popular. But multipolarism, if it is embraced rather than resisted, will only end in Chinese Communist domination.

Multipolarity is innocent enough as a description of changing global trends. It is true that U.S. power has been waning even as China’s star has risen. But normative multipolarism, once isolated to the Left (former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once promised to “turn a multi-polar world into a multi-partner world”), is making new inroads on the Right. Republican “restrainers” are increasingly arguing that the emerging status quo is the natural state of affairs, and American hegemony an oddity.

According to the restrainers, the U.S. should normalize relations and continue to sweep tensions under the proverbial rug. Ironically, some of these same voices often object to U.S. support of Ukraine and U.S. action in Iran because the focus has shifted away from China, stating that the U.S. no longer has the strength to combat the CCP on top of Iran and Russia.

There is a temptation to sit back and allow the CCP to operate how it prefers in its hemisphere, even with an ongoing genocide and a surveillance state, as long as the U.S. is unbothered. But to assume that other global superpowers will respect U.S. hegemony once they have secured primacy in their sphere is woefully naïve.

The majority of people in the United States have never lived in a multipolar world. They have never witnessed a world in which the United States is not the global superpower, the enforcer of international law and free trade, and the credible deterrent to enemies of freedom. They see U.S. defense spending as excessive, especially when U.S. allies aren’t paying for their defense, remain inadequately armed, and refuse to decouple their economies from hostile powers. It is true that the NATO alliance must demonstrate to the U.S. (and to each other) that they are capable of defending their own countries and can adequately deter their enemy to the east, because they, too, have never lived in a world without the alliance deterring hostile powers.

The focus of the White House’s summit with China was largely on the economy, trade, and Iran, with Xi Jinping warning of a possible clash with the U.S. over Taiwan. There has been little reporting on President Donald Trump’s response to the question about Taiwan. It still has not been clarified what the U.S. response would be if the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) moved on Taiwan, and the U.S. has not widely discussed what exactly it would look like for the PLA to begin to take Taiwan, though we can assume it is a war game often played out in Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities of the Pentagon.

It is no mystery what the isolationist Right’s views on Taiwan will be if the attack occurs. They will argue that Taiwan is very far away, that our men and women should not die for a foreign country, that Taiwan’s independence is not associated with American security, but they misunderstand China’s long-term goal. Isolationists in the U.S. will be content with a multipolar world, so long as they do not feel any major shifts to their day-to-day life, but the Chinese Communist Party will not be content with multipolarity.

The United States stands in sharp contrast to the communist hegemony, and in the long term, the CCP will not tolerate the U.S. as a rival power. If the U.S. shrinks into its role in a multipolar world, we will be weaker, freedom around the world will be feebler, and the U.S. economy will suffer. Eventually, all American citizens will feel the consequences if the U.S. is no longer the preeminent force on the world stage, and will hate it.

The Chinese Communist Party is hoping for that future, for a U.S. citizenry scrolling TikTok where they are told China was right to take Taiwan, and China’s internal affairs don’t concern the U.S. The CCP already executed a test run after October 7, and the U.S. is still having to sort fact from fiction amongst our population.

China will accept a multipolar world for a few years, but that will not satisfy them in the long run. The freedom of America is a thorn in the side of every communist nation, and in the end, China will prefer only one to stay standing. Multipolar worlds do not exist in the long term. China knows this; it is time America learns it, too.

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Ali Holcomb is a National Security Fellow and Communications Advisor at Advancing American Freedom.

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It’s Win Or Lose With China. There Is No Draw