China will sanction US lawsuits over covid-19
US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — China is extremely annoyed at the way the United States abuses the lawsuits against the PRC that began because of the covid-19 epidemic. Therefore, he is considering retaliatory measures against U.S. citizens, legal entities, and government officials, such as Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmit, who has sued China for damages from the covid-19 pandemic.
The Global Times was told about this by knowledgeable sources. According to analysts, China will add at least four Republican congressmen and two American companies to its sanctions list.
It will not be just a symbolic retaliation. These will be very painful countermeasures, analysts say.
Some U.S. congressmen, state governors, and militant Republican prosecutors have sued China, claiming that the Chinese government has acted improperly in an epidemic, with serious economic consequences.
At least six lawsuits have been filed with US federal courts. And some lawmakers have proposed bills that make it easier to prosecute China, despite legal obstacles and the fact that it is simply unrealistic for the US states to achieve their goals. Missouri was the first US state to sue the Chinese government. Missouri Chief Prosecutor Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit against the PRC on April 21, saying that China had done almost nothing to stop the spread of the virus, and “lied to the world about the dangers and contagiousness of covid-19,” as well as noting that the amount of economic damage caused to residents of the state, is tens of billions of dollars.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch followed suit with a colleague who filed a lawsuit that Chinese officials and experts called “ridiculous” and “absurd.” The lawsuit states that Mississippi residents should be allowed to seek justice and hold China accountable. This was reported on April 25 by the Fox News Channel.
Those Republicans who viciously criticized China and fanned the political farce under the slogan “Call China for an answer” will now face serious consequences, sources say. They emphasize that this will affect the upcoming elections in November, as business and trade ties between Missouri and China are further weakened.
Senators actively pushing the anti-China bill because of the pandemic include Missouri Republican Josh Hawley. In mid-April, he proposed a law called “Justice for victims of covid-19,” which robs China of sovereign immunity and allows US citizens to sue the Chinese government for misrepresenting covid-19. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw have also proposed a bill allowing Americans to sue China over coronavirus.
On April 16, Cotton introduced a bill that would give Americans the opportunity to sue China in federal court for damages for death, personal injury, and economic losses due to coronavirus. In particular, this bill amends the US law on the sovereign immunity of foreign countries and creates a narrow exception for the damage caused by the actions of China in the context of the coronavirus epidemic. A day later, Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey proposed a similar bill to deprive China of sovereign immunity and to allow Americans to sue the Chinese government, as stated on its official website.
Anti-Chinese activity takes these legislators almost the entire working day. March 12, Hawley, along with another Republican Rick Scott (Rick Scott) proposed another bill banning all federal employees from using the TikTok application on office devices. Smith also often raises the Chinese theme, especially with regard to the so-called human rights issues. In March 2019, he introduced a bill to counter China’s political influence in the United States, stating: “Beijing’s influence operations are very insidious and dangerous.”
Other lawmakers from the Great Old Party are also not inactive, actively pushing laws to facilitate China’s prosecution. One such law was proposed by Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, Martha McSally from Arizona, and Lance Gooden from Texas. In addition, some New Jersey Republicans – Jim Holzapfel, Greg McGuckin, and John Catalano – are proposing a resolution calling on President Donald Trump and the U.S. Congress to pass laws allowing U.S. citizens to file to court in China.
American lawmaker Larry Klayman and his human rights group Freedom Watch, as well as Texas-based Buzz Photos, also filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government. Plaintiffs want to receive $ 20 trillion from China.
China has repeatedly stressed that cooperation between China and the United States is mutually beneficial. He always hoped that bilateral relations would develop in the right direction. However, we cannot constantly retreat, allowing some people to endlessly destroy Sino-US relations, analysts say.
“We must proceed to decisive action against those politicians who, without any reason, undermine Sino-US relations for their own political gain. As for those people who push anti-Chinese laws, we need to find out what kind of business ties they and their families have with China, ”Yuan Zheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told The Global Times on Wednesday.
“We cannot deliver only symbolic retaliatory strikes. We must take countermeasures that make them feel pain, ”he said.
China ranks third in Missouri exports after Britain and Canada. In 2019, the volume of goods and services delivered by this state to China amounted to $ 1.1 billion and $ 775 million, respectively. Major exported goods shipped from Missouri to China include oilseeds, grains, meat products, and medicines.
Missouri, as well as the states of Michigan, South Carolina and Texas, have previously taken measures to facilitate the flow of Chinese investment, which allowed them to increase employment rates in these states. For example, in 2013, a week before the Chinese company Shuanghui acquired Smithfield Foods, the Missouri legislature amended the law to ensure that the deal was approved.
The Chinese Consul General in Chicago, Hong Lei, speaking in 2017, said that Chinese companies invested more than $ 1.1 billion in Missouri, creating 4,500 jobs.
Beijing could take counter punitive measures against the respective states represented in the legislature by these opponents of China, including trade and exchange measures, Yuan said. “These officials should be held accountable for their words. However, we need to seek balance by punishing these people. We must do this so as not to humiliate them all, ”he added.
Some Missouri companies have long been investing in China, and they are likely to feel dire consequences if China takes punitive action in response to lawsuits. Established in Missouri, Emerson Electric is active in the PRC, and most recently, in 2019, it opened its largest overseas research center in Suzhou, in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.
