US STATE SUES CHINA OVER VIRUS OUTBREAK
In the lawsuit,
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt alleges China did little to stop the
spread of the virus.
Mr Schmitt claims Missouri residents have suffered possibly tens
of billions of dollars in economic damages.
But
legal experts doubt how far the state will get with the legal action, and the
motivation behind it.
“In
Missouri, the impact of the virus is very real – thousands have been infected
and many have died, families have been separated from dying loved ones, small
businesses are shuttering their doors, and those living paycheck to paycheck
are struggling to put food on their table,” Mr Schmitt said in a
statement.
“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,” Mr Schmitt said.
“They
must be held accountable for their actions.”
The
civil lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, is against the Chinese government, Chinese
Communist Party and other Chinese officials and institutions.
Legal experts have questioned the move and how far it will get. A
legal doctrine called sovereign immunity offers foreign governments broad
protection from being sued in US courts.
“There
is an exception for torts committed in the United States by officials acting in
an official capacity; the paradigm would be something like a car accident in an
embassy car,” said Tom Ginsburg, a professor of international law at the
University of Chicago.
It
will also cost the state of Missouri money to sue the Chinese government.
“Taxpayers fund the attorney general’s office, and any time spent by staff
lawyers on this lawsuit is time not spent on other important matters,”
added Chimène Keitner, an international law professor at the University of
California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
In a list of “key factual allegations” the Missouri
lawsuit also accuses the Chinese government of making the pandemic worse by
“hoarding” personal protective equipment (PPE). China has strongly
denied mishandling the crisis.
“There’s
an old joke in American politics that in every state the AG stands for the
Attorney General, but it also stands for Aspiring Governor,” said Stu
Loeser, a New York-based media strategist.
Mr
Ginsburg believes the Missouri lawsuit has “publicity value” and
predicts other states will follow suit. “In my opinion their governors and
attorneys general should spend their efforts trying to keep their populations
safe,” he added.
