Given how long Michael has been working at Beida, my guess is he's an information warrior for China against the West. Especially important now that Gordon Chang is not as effective as he used to be. Peter Zeihan and Jordan Peterson tried to carry the torch but it's just too stressful to be an information warrior so they've started burning out very prematurely.China's current economy is far more resilient than in 2018, when Trump started the first trade war.
Just in case you still don't know who Michael Pettis is.