The lawsuit was filed in the state of Missouri. In the Foreign Office, it was called a mock trial.
Filing a lawsuit in the American state of Missouri against the Chinese authorities because they allegedly concealed information about the spread of the new coronavirus, is a mockery of the proceedings. This was stated by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a briefing on Wednesday.
“These so-called accusations have no factual or real basis”, – said Geng Shuang. He also noted that “since the outbreak began, the Chinese government has informed the United States, other states and the World Health Organization (WHO) about the progress of the epidemic situation and the fight against the virus in the most open and transparent manner possible.
“This so-called legal process is a malicious mockery of legal proceedings <…>. The actions of the Chinese Government during the pandemic do not fall under the jurisdiction of United States courts. Such abuse of the judicial process does not contribute to the fight against the epidemic in the United States and is also contrary to international cooperation. What the United States should do is to renounce chicanery”, – concluded a representative of the Chinese foreign policy agency.
Earlier, U.S. Attorney General Eric Schmitt posted a statement in which he said that the state authorities on Tuesday, April 21, filed a lawsuit against the Chinese authorities in the federal court of the Eastern District of the state, accusing them of concealing information about the dissemination of the new coronavirus. Schmitt claims that the Chinese government, the Communist Party of China, and a number of officials and government agencies in late 2019 prevented the spread of information about the infection, detained people who were aware of the problem, and did not disclose data confirming the risk of infection. According to the statement, Chinese actions resulted in the death of Missouri residents and also caused economic damage to the state.