Another of Trump’s close advisers on China, Michael Pillsbury, has suggested that the U.S. should demand $10 million for each coronavirus death from the Chinese government. Trump has said that his administration is seriously contemplating claiming very substantial reparations from the Chinese. There is even talk of the U.S. President using his emergency war powers and defaulting on debts to China.
Michael Pillsbury, partly the inspiration for President Trump's more confrontational approach to China, pointed to a book by a Chinese colonel about the "post-American era" and "duel of the century." One analyst claims the Chinese have persuaded Americans they are locked in such a duel — though a national survey by my organization, the Eurasia Group Foundation, finds little such concern among the public.