China is considering imposing sanctions on United States individuals, entities and state officials, such as Missouri’s attorney general Eric Schmitt, who filed a lawsuit against China, seeking compensation for the damages caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Global Times reports that at least four US Congress members, including Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton, and two entities will be put on China’s sanctions list.
This is a countermeasure to at least six lawsuits filed against China by some US lawmakers and state governors as well as attorneys who allege that the Chinese government mishandled the epidemic and it caused severe economic consequences in the US.
Some lawmakers have also introduced bills to make it easier to sue China to make it feasible for China to be legally sued in US courts.
At the moment, as observed by Tom Ginsburg, a professor of international law at the University of Chicago US law, under the principle of sovereign immunity, offers foreign governments broad protection from being sued in US courts.
Missouri State became the first state in the USA to claim damages from China and it joined countries like Germany and Spain who also accuse China of not doing enough to curb the virus.
The virus emerged in China in December 2019 with some ‘conspiracy’ theories suggesting that China created the virus in a science laboratory.
More: Global Times