Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
Missouri sues China for spreading the pandemic, experts say the case is significant
Editor : Li Jing / https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/25/2/5/n14430700.htm / Image : On 27 May 2020, P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China (left). (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.S. state of Missouri has once again filed a lawsuit against the Chinese Communist Party authorities due to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus, covid) epidemic, demanding that the Chinese Communist Party pay $25 billion to compensate for the losses suffered by the state’s residents. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said that if China refuses to pay compensation, its assets in the United States will be confiscated.
The case in which the U.S. state of Missouri sued the Chinese Communist authorities for spreading covid ended on 27 January 2025 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
"Today, we are taking China to court, holding them accountable for releasing the coronavirus to the world," Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a press release on the day of the trial. "Missouri is the only state in the nation to file a lawsuit holding China accountable for causing and exacerbating the COVID-19 epidemic." (Press release)
The court said that day that Attorney General Bailey provided "a lot of irrefutable evidence" to prove that China (CCP) spread the new coronavirus to the world and harmed the people of Missouri. The judge made clear that he was inclined to rule in favor of Missouri.
As early as April 2020, when the covid epidemic swept the world, Missouri filed a lawsuit against the Chinese Communist Party authorities, accusing the Chinese Communist Party of being responsible for the deaths, illnesses and economic losses of a large number of people around the world, including the damage caused to Missouri. The Communist Party of China accused the lawsuit of being "extremely ridiculous" and said Missouri had no factual or legal basis.
In 2021, a district court judge dismissed the lawsuit, citing the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976. The act generally protects foreign governments from prosecution in U.S. courts. Missouri will appeal the ruling in 2023. On 10 January 2024, a U.S. federal judge allowed Missouri to advance its claims lawsuit against China (CCP).
Chief Justice Lavenski Smith said that while the FSEA law was not unbreakable, it was “certainly insufficient to justify judicial intervention in an arena fraught with grave political and diplomatic issues.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in the above press release that Missouri is seeking $25 billion in compensation from China (CCP). "If China (CCP) refuses to pay, we will seize Chinese assets," he said.
So far, the Chinese authorities have refused to appear in court, so there is a good chance that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri will enter a default judgment in favor of the State of Missouri. The court is expected to rule in the coming weeks.
How much assets do Chinese Communist Party entities have in the United States?
According to 2023 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chinese entities own as much as 42,596 acres of farmland in Missouri, the most of any foreign entity in the state. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture in 2022 showed that China owns nearly 350,000 acres of farmland in 27 U.S. states.
Although the Chinese Communist government does not directly own any agricultural land in the United States, government entities own various types of other assets in the United States, including U.S. Treasuries, real estate, stocks, and investments in financial institutions and companies.
China, through its central bank, the People’s Bank of China, is one of the largest foreign holders of U.S. government debt. As of 2023, China holds approximately $850 billion to $1 trillion in U.S. Treasuries.
In addition, China’s state-owned enterprises and government-backed entities have made significant investments in the U.S. real estate market. It is estimated that Chinese investors (both private and state-owned) invest more than $10 billion annually in U.S. commercial and residential real estate, with total investments of approximately $50 billion to $70 billion over the past decade.
Chinese state-owned enterprises (such as China Investment Corporation (CIC)) and government-backed entities hold large stakes in U.S. stock markets, especially in sectors such as technology, energy, and finance. Chinese state-owned banks, such as ICBC and Bank of China, also hold large assets in the U.S. financial system. Chinese private equity and venture capital firms backed by the Chinese Communist Party also have large investments in U.S. startups.
According to statistics from the American Enterprise Institute, which has been tracking China's investment in the United States for a long time, the United States is the country in the world that receives the most Chinese investment. In the 20 years between 2005 and 2024, Chinese investment in the United States is estimated to exceed $200 billion, with more than 200 Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, with a market value of nearly $1 trillion.
Chimène Keitner, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, is an authority on international law and civil litigation and served as the 27th International Law Counselor at the U.S. Department of State.
She believes that the case of Missouri v. China, by its very significance, shows that foreign countries are not completely immune from legal consequences in U.S. courts.
"I think there's not a lot of dispute that the virus originated in China," she told VOA. "But the question is whether U.S. courts can adjudicate not only the cause of the pandemic but all the intermediate steps that led to the level of damage that we've seen here, which includes, of course, policy choices made by the United States and other countries. So the statute that governs these cases, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, basically says you can't sue another country in U.S. courts for policy decisions and government actions. You can sue its commercial conduct. What the plaintiffs are doing here is trying to argue that at least some of China's conduct was on the commercial side of the balance sheet."
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