As a society we've been taking the "working with them is better than cutting them out" strategy for 20 years now, and it isn't working. That's how we've gotten to where we are in the first place. We are dealing with an actor that is a) working in bad faith, and b) smart. We aren't going to covertly sneak democratic values into Xi's country; he knows exactly how much is allowable before it starts to have an impact. By giving him the option, we're only helping his plans.