The Chinese side filed a civil lawsuit seeking massive damages against Missouri in the United States. It said the reason was that COVID-19 was politicized and China was stigmatized, and it is seen as a retaliatory move in response to a lawsuit the United States previously filed against China.
According to the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong on the 18th (local time), Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said she was notified of a civil lawsuit filed last week with the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court in Hubei province, China, seeking 356.437 billion yuan (about 74.6 trillion won).
The lawsuit was filed on Apr. 3 by the Wuhan city government, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and its parent agency, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the defendants are the state of Missouri, represented by Gov. Mike Kehoe; Sen. Eric Schmitt, a former Missouri attorney general; and Andrew Bailey, current deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The plaintiffs claimed the defendants manipulated the tracing of COVID-19's origin and slandered China by alleging it hid information and hoarded personal protective equipment such as masks. They demanded a public apology through the New York Times (NYT), People's Daily, YouTube, and other outlets, in addition to damages.
However, the latest suit appears largely to be a response to litigation Missouri filed in a U.S. court five years ago. At the time, Sen. Schmitt, then Missouri attorney general, filed a suit against China alleging that the spread of COVID-19 caused "trillions of dollars" in economic damage.
In March, a U.S. federal court ordered the defendants to pay Missouri more than $24 billion (about 35.5 trillion won).
Attorney General Hanaway, referring to the Chinese lawsuit, said it "lacks factual basis and provides no legal benefit," and expressed an intention to collect the $24 billion awarded by the U.S. court.