China Calls Missouri’s Coronavirus Lawsuit ‘Very Absurd’

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2019, file photo, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. Schmitt on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, filed a lawsuit against the Chinese govern... FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2019, file photo, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. Schmitt on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government, the Community Party of China and others, alleging that the hiding of information and other actions at the outset of the coronavirus outbreak led to loss of life and significant economic damage in Missouri. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) MORE LESS
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BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday slammed a lawsuit brought against it by the U.S. state of Missouri over the coronavirus pandemic as “very absurd.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the legal action has “no factual and legal basis at all” and repeated China’s defense of its response to the outbreak, which has largely subsided in the country where it was first detected.

The ministry and other Chinese government departments have strenuously denied accusations that officials delayed reporting on the extent of the outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, despite reports that worries over political stability were placed above public health concerns. Medical staff who reported the outbreak were silenced under threat of legal retaliation and Wuhan went several days without reporting cases during the holding of an annual provincial government conference.

“This so-called lawsuit is very absurd and has no factual and legal basis at all,” Geng said at a daily briefing. Since the outbreak began, China has proceeded in an “open, transparent, and responsible manner” and the U.S. government should “dismiss such vexatious litigation,” he said.

Missouri’s top state prosecutor on Tuesday announced the lawsuit, which alleges that Chinese officials are to blame for the pandemic that has sickened around 2.5 million worldwide, thrown tens of millions out of work and devastated local economies, including in China.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt said the Chinese government lied about the dangers of the virus and didn’t do enough to slow its spread.

Missouri’s action is likely to be largely symbolic, however, since lawsuits against other countries typically don’t go anywhere because U.S. law generally prohibits them.

According to Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the number of Missouri deaths from the virus rose by 16 Tuesday to 215.

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Notable Replies

  1. It is absurd and it’s going nowhere. That was not the purpose of it. The lawsuit is a show for the rubes. Something to keep eyes off Trump where the real failure is.

  2. Ha! As if the modern GOP cares a whit about legality and such stuff. Textbook display of “show 'em yellerds we hate 'em!” from a red state with a shit governor. I fully expect at least a dozen more of these, each more bombastic than the previous.

  3. Schmitt is wasting the taxpayers money by even talking. Whether or not China erred, this is political gaslighting, and this is concerted effort to protect Trump AND the Republicans from further erosion. Given the number of deaths in Missouri to date, if the Trumpet machine staffed by Schmitt opens up businesses without adequate protections and health before wealth thoughts, he could well be responsible for more deaths. Bring a lawsuit against Schmitt?

  4. Dumbsh*ts grandstanding.

  5. …despite reports that worries over political stability were placed above public health concerns.

    Yep. If the argument is based on putting politics before health, they’ve got the current administration dead to rights. And, there’d be some chance of the lawsuit gaining ground, as opposed to offering ‘Paycheck Protection’ to the lawyers in the state DA’s office.

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