GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2020) ENOA, Italy, April 26 (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko - The legal actions of two US states, Missouri and Mississippi, against China over its alleged lack of COVID-19 response measures, which led to deaths and health injuries among Americans, are politically motivated ahead of the presidential elections in the United States and have no chances of success in legal terms, Toby Cadman, international lawyer and co-founder of London-based GENOA (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 26th April, 2020) uernica 37 International Justice Chambers, told Sputnik.
On Tuesday, Missouri claimed that it had filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government and ruling Communist Party (CCP) to seek compensation for damages caused by Beijing's cover-up of the COVID-19 outbreak during the critical initial stages. A day later, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced the state was going to file a similar lawsuit against China to hold it responsible for what it called malicious and dangerous acts that caused death, health injuries and serious economic losses to "too many Mississippians." China has denied the allegations.
"The two lawsuits that have been announced in Mississippi and Missouri have been announced by Republican-leaning State Attorney Generals in what can only be described as political pandering. It is quite simply a ridiculous strategy to confuse the public further and win votes for the upcoming election. The Trump Administration has clearly demonstrated its inability to manage such a crisis and there must be some responsibility taken for its inaction and now the consideration of removing the measures necessary for containment and control," Cadman said.
The attorney generals of Mississippi and Missouri indicated that they would seek damages from the Chinese Communist Party under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).
The lawyer explained that the Missouri civil action, brought on behalf of all citizens of the state affected by the pandemic, relies mostly on media reports that the CCP had intentionally covered up the extent of the pandemic.
"It is highly unlikely that the legal actions will be successful, and in many ways that is probably not the intention. It is unlikely that the CCP will respond to what it considers to be a ridiculous political move aimed at gaining votes from an already terrified electorate," Cadman said.
He added that even if the cases go forward they will have to look at the evidence that links the CCP's action, or inaction, with the deaths of Missouri and Mississippi residents, and also at the steps the state governments and the Trump administration took in response to what was known at that time.
"It is also to be expected that the CCP will accuse the US of having weaponized the virus and its military was in fact responsible. ... It could, therefore, boil down to whose evidence, and the source thereof, is more credible," Cadman continued.
On the same day that Mississippi announced its intention to take legal action, the Chinese mission in the United Nations stated it had donated 25,000 face masks, 2,000 protective suits and 75,000 surgical gloves to New York City to help it win the battle against COVID-19.
On Sunday, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne called for a global investigation into the cause of the pandemic and China's response during the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan.
Attempts of some Western countries to put the blame over the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic on China and the World Health Organization (WHO) are inappropriate, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.
