The Senate just passed a $2 trillion stimulus package in response to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

This might never have happened, had the Communist Chinese dictatorship acted in accordance with the treaty commitments they previously made to the American people.

If China had come clean about the coronavirus just three weeks sooner, the number of current cases might be 95% less, a recent study found. But instead, the Communist Chinese dictatorship attempted to cover it up. The current worldwide pandemic is the result.

Based on China’s culpability, President Trump and Secretary Steven Mnuchin should immediately extract reimbursement, starting with the $1.1 trillion in U.S. Treasury Department bonds Communist China currently holds.

Reports on the origin of the COVID-19 virus focus primarily on a Wuhan Huanan market that sold live bats, kangaroos, camels, porcupines, scorpions, cicadas, wolves, foxes, and dogs to customers seeking a more exotic dining experience at home.

The earliest known coronavirus patient started feeling ill Dec. 10, and a worker from the Wholesale Seafood Market was hospitalized with a coronavirus infection in both lungs on Dec. 16. Doctors who initially told Chinese health authorities about the “pneumonia of unclear cause” were reprimanded and given hush orders by the Chinese Communist Party, and the Times of London reported China ordered laboratories “to stop tests, destroy samples, and suppress the news."

China not only failed to prevent travel by infected persons but actually followed up on Jan. 14 with an announcement that there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus,” even as cases started appearing around the world.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an attorney who specializes in human rights, recently told Fox News that China’s delays and attempts to withhold information about this deadly new contagion transgresses multiple international treaties China supported and signed, calling their delays "a massive breach of duty and customary international law.”

Furthermore, China’s cover-up strategy directly violates its agreement to the International Health Regulations law that requires states to notify the World Health Organization of events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern. Even worse, Communist Chinese propaganda outlets have tried to pin the blame on U.S. soldiers as the origin of the outbreak.

Separately, a Florida law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit against China in federal court alleging liability under several legal theories, including negligence, infliction of emotional distress, ultrahazardous activities, and public nuisance. While the legal theories put forward are certainly valid, that lawsuit will have to overcome the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. While FSIA immunity can be surmounted, I have proposed a simpler mechanism to #MakeChinaPay for its damages to America.

Trump's declaration of a national emergency on March 13, 2020, triggers additional powers, including the ability to confiscate foreign assets under 50 USC § 1702(a)(1)(C). Pursuant to that statute, seized assets can then be liquidated and the proceeds used to further the interests of the United States. Under my proposal, FSIA immunity is irrelevant.

Just as we have done previously with Iran, Congress can deny China the ability to sue for any actions taken under my proposal. The Supreme Court upheld Congress’s authority to prevent Iran from suing in Bank Markazi v. Peterson, 136 S. Ct. 1310 (2016). We should do the same to the Communist Chinese dictatorship.

The Department of the Treasury should electronically confiscate all U.S. Treasurys currently held by China and make it illegal for China to buy, hold, or sell U.S. Treasurys going forward. These prohibitions would apply to any subsidiary or agent of China’s Communist Party. Treasury bonds are no longer held in paper form but are recorded electronically at the Depository Trust Corporation, so this can be done with just a few keystrokes.

My proposal is specifically not a “default,” as the underlying obligation to pay on the bonds would not change, and the proceeds from the resale of those bonds would help reimburse U.S. taxpayers for the unprecedented and catastrophic costs of this pandemic.

If China wants to become the most influential country in the international community, it must be financially accountable for the rules and responsibilities that come with that status.

Gavin Clarkson served in the Trump administration as deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development, is a former business professor, and is now running for New Mexico’s open U.S. Senate seat.