The state of Missouri won a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against China for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic after none of the defendants showed up to court.
A Missouri federal judge ordered China and the other defendants on Friday to pay the state “an amount of $24,488,825,457.00,” with post-judgment interest “at a rate of 3.91 percent, compounded annually.” The People’s Republic of China and co-defendants, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, “failed to appear or otherwise answer after being properly served, and [are] therefore in default,” Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh wrote in his order.
In 2020, Missouri sued the Chinese government for $25 billion “for causing and exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic” and for hoarding medical equipment during the pandemic, but China refused to appear in court, according to Bailey’s office. Instead, Beijing dispatched a Chinese government surrogate to litigate its lawsuit on its behalf to shield itself from legal repercussions, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office asserted in a legal filing on Friday.
Bailey told the DCNF it was “no surprise” the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opted to hide behind “proxy organizations like the Chinese Society of Private International Law rather than appearing in court to answer for their actions.”
“We will not allow the CCP to manipulate the legal process to evade justice — our mission is to fight for the truth and recover damages for the people of Missouri,” Bailey said.
Hiding Behind Proxy Groups
Bailey’s motion earlier on Friday argued that an amicus brief filed on Feb. 27 by The China Society of Private International Law (China Society) in defense of the Chinese government in the case of Missouri v. China should be struck from the record because the organization is allegedly a proxy for a Ministry of Foreign Affairs-run organization called the Chinese Society of International Law (CSIL).
The filing alleged that the China Society, which presents itself as an academic organization, “is actually controlled by Defendants,” i.e., the Chinese government, because China Society is led by many of the same individuals as CSIL, which was “founded by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
“China Society and CSIL appear to have the same President — a President who is also a government official in China’s legal field,” the legal motion reads. “The organizations’ share a president, a Chinese government official named Huang Jin, who, in addition to these (and other) presidencies, also currently works as ‘Special Counsel of the Supreme People’s Court’ and Expert Counselor of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate — the top prosecutorial agency of the People’s Republic of China.”
The DCNF also discovered that Huang apparently has several other Chinese government ties, such as being identified as a member of the CCP on China Society’s website.
The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) also identified Huang as a participant in 2020.
“CPPCC delegates attend a high-profile annual meeting to receive direction from the CCP regarding the ways its policies should be characterized to both domestic and foreign audiences,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “Delegates to the CPPCC serve as proxies for CCP interests by virtue of their participation in this forum, and they frequently act as interlocutors with foreign government officials, businesses and academic institutions.”
The CPPCC’s charter states that delegates must “uphold the leadership” of the CCP, “facilitate implementation of state foreign policy,” and even “keep state secrets.”
“The reality is that China Society simply seeks to litigate this case on behalf of Defendants while shielding Defendants from any actual participation in this lawsuit,” the legal motion reads.
The legal motion also alleged that China Society’s executive vice president, Xiao Yongping, is CSIL’s vice president.
“The list of direct overlap in leaders between China Society and [CSIL] (an express arm of the CPC), many of whom also appear to conveniently work as high-ranking government officials in China, goes on and on,” the legal motion continues. “For example, Yongping Xiao works concurrently as Executive Vice President of China Society and Vice President of [CSIL], while also working as a member of the Advisory Committees of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
The DCNF discovered that Xiao is also listed as holding several other Chinese government affiliations.
In addition to being identified as a CCP member by Wuhan University, where he is a faculty member, China Society’s website likewise identifies Xiao as a Chang Jiang Scholar, which is one of many so-called Chinese “talent recruitment plans.” The FBI has warned that all of China’s talent recruitment plans incentivize participants to “steal foreign technologies needed to advance China’s national, military, and economic goals,” and the Department of Defense has labeled the Chang Jiang Scholar program as posing “a threat to national security interests of the United States.”
“In other words, the purported ‘academic organization’ that seeks to file an amicus supporting Defendants is in fact directly controlled and directed by Defendants’ agents — while it seeks to argue on behalf of Defendants, who themselves have refused to appear,” the legal motion asserts. “This Court should strike or otherwise set aside the arguments of China Society as an improper attempt by a purported amicus to litigate this case on behalf of a defaulting party.”
Bailey told the DCNF that Missouri will hold the CCP accountable for “unleashing COVID-19 on the world.”
“The people of Missouri suffered immense loss — lives were lost, businesses shuttered, and livelihoods devastated — because of the CCP’s deception and negligence. This case is about standing up for the rule of law and fighting for justice on behalf of every Missourian impacted by the pandemic,” Bailey said.
China Society did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment and CSIL could not be reached for comment.
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