Missouri plans to seize assets to make China pay a $24.5 billion judgment, but can it collect?
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri's attorney general is threatening to seize Chinese assets across the U.S. to collect $24.5 billion awarded in a lawsuit against China stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, but experts were skeptical Monday, with one saying, “Good luck with that.”
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this week that it does not recognize a U.S. federal judge's recent ruling siding with Missouri's claim that China hoarded personal protective equipment during the pandemic, harming the state and its residents. China called the lawsuit “absurd” when it was filed in 2020, during the early months of the pandemic, and it did not participate in a brief trial held in Missouri in January.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, hailed Friday's ruling from U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh as a “landmark victory” in efforts to hold China, its Communist Party and seven other government or scientific agencies responsible for the costs of the pandemic in the U.S. If China won't pay the award, the state will seize Chinese-owned assets, including farmland, Bailey said.
“Those assets are not required to be within Missouri and can be located anywhere in the United States,” Bailey said in a statement Monday. “While we have not partnered with other states on this particular suit, we encourage others to work to hold the Chinese government accountable and seek justice for victims."
International organizations typically negotiate such disagreements, or the federal government will take legal action on behalf of a state, said Paul Nolette, a Marquette University political scientist. He said a state acting on its own could be a problem because, "that can really complicate relationships between the countries.”
He added, “The prospects of money actually changing hands is very slim.”
Duncan Levin, a former federal and state prosecutor in New York City who's represented foreign nations in U.S. courts, described Bailey's comments as “press release talk.”
According to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture Statistics, Chinese interests owned about 44,000 acres (17,800 hectares) of farmland in Missouri at the end of 2023 — one-tenth of 1% of the state’s 44 million acres. Bailey said he will work with President Donald Trump’s administration to identify Chinese assets in the state.
But Levin said it's not clear that the Chinese government or the other defendants in the case — as opposed to Chinese individuals or companies — actually own anything in Missouri. He doubts Bailey has the authority to seize assets outside Missouri, and even claiming assets that can be seized could take time, he said.
“Good luck with that,” Levin said. “This is a lot of sort of tough talk that will highly likely fall apart in the details once they get into a courtroom."
The lawsuit was filed by Bailey's predecessor as attorney general, Eric Schmitt, a conservative Republican like Bailey, who then won a U.S. Senate seat in 2022. Bailey was Republican Gov. Mike Parson's top attorney, and Parson appointed him attorney general when Schmitt left the office.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this week that its actions during the pandemic aren't subject to the jurisdiction of American courts. It also decried what it called “malicious abuse of lawsuits" and added, "Using frivolous lawsuits to smear and defame China and shift the blame will never succeed.”
“We ask the United States to return to rationality and correct its mistakes,” the statement said. “China has the right to take reciprocal countermeasures in accordance with international law to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests."
The ministry's statement wasn't more specific about the Chinese government's possible response, but Levin said it could impose sanctions on Missouri companies doing business in China or take action against them in the Chinese courts.
Nolette said, “What was surprising is just seeing such a large judgment coming down in a situation where that sort of authority is very much in question: whether a state has the sort of authority to sue and seek judgments from other countries."
Limbaugh, sitting in Cape Girardeau, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) southeast of St. Louis along the Mississippi River, initially dismissed the lawsuit, ruling in 2022 that Missouri couldn't sue China or the other defendants under a law that generally shields foreign nations from lawsuits in U.S. courts.
However, Missouri appealed, and an appeals court said one part of its lawsuit could proceed — alleging hoarding. When Chinese officials didn’t respond, Limbaugh accepted Missouri’s estimate of past and potential future damages of more than $8 billion, tripled it as federal law allows, and added 3.91% interest until it’s collected.
“We intend to collect every penny by seizing Chinese-owned assets, including Missouri farmland,” Bailey said after the ruling.
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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press Greater China News Director Emily Wang, in Beijing, and Associated Press writer Fu Ting in Washington, D.C., also contributed reporting.
