Missouri Is Trying to Sue China and Its Communist Party For Lying About Coronavirus
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The state of Missouri has filed a lawsuit against China alleging they “lied to the world” about the coronavirus.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt, alleges Chinese officials are “responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians.”
The lawsuit claims China silenced whistleblowers, suppressed information, and failed to inform the world about how contagious the virus was.
“The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of COVID-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease,” Schmitt said. “They must be held accountable for their actions.”
The number of Missouri deaths from the coronavirus rose by 16 on Tuesday to 215, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang slammed the lawsuit as “very absurd” on Wednesday morning, said it has “no factual and legal basis at all” and adding that the allegations against the country were “purely malicious.”
Geng once again defended China’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying its decisions were taken in an “open, transparent, and responsible manner.” He added that the U.S. government should “dismiss such vexatious litigation.”
Democrats have said the lawsuit is simply a stunt by Schmitt, who is up for re-election later this year. And some legal experts say that it’s simply not possible to sue China, as U.S. law generally prohibits lawsuits against other countries.
“The legal problem is, it’s just not possible,” Chimène Keitner, an international law professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, told AP.
READ: Here's how China Is rewriting the history of the coronavirus pandemic to make itself the hero
But, the lawsuit is not just trying to sue the Chinese government, it is also suing the Communist Party of China (CCP) which is not immune from prosecution, so theoretically the CCP may have to convince a judge that the Party and the Chinese government are one and the same.
The lawsuit has also listed a number of other groups, including China’s national health commission, various government ministries, and local government bodies in Hubei and Wuhan. The list of defendants includes the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where conspiracy theorists claim the coronavirus outbreak originated.
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Cover: A worker stands near a picture showing Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting the Mengniu dairy factory in Beijing on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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David Gilbert, Khareem Sudlow
