Missouri SUES China for the coronavirus pandemic saying Beijing is responsible for 'lying to the world' and causing 'enormous death, suffering, and billions in economic losses'

The state of Missouri has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government over the coronavirus pandemic, claiming China's officials are to blame for the devastating outbreak that's sweeping the globe.  

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Missouri on Tuesday, alleges Chinese officials are 'responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians.'

'The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of COVID-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease,' Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt's office said in a written statement. 'They must be held accountable for their actions.'

This marks the first time a state has sued China over its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

World leaders including President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne have expressed concerns over Beijing’s transparency amid the virus.

On Monday 22 Republican lawmakers requested that the Trump administration bring a case against China to the International Court of Justice for the country’s actions in the coronavirus pandemic. 

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The state of Missouri has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government over the coronavirus pandemic, claiming China's officials are to blame for the devastating outbreak that's sweeping the globe

Schmitt announced the lawsuit on Tuesday saying: 'The bottom line: they lied to the world & should be held accountable'

Schmitt's office accuses China of negligence and claims the pandemic cost Missourians possibly tens of billions of dollars in economic damage.  

Schmitt's office is seeking unspecified damages for deaths in Missouri and the hit the virus has taken on the state's economy.

'In Missouri, the impact of the virus is very real - thousands have been infected and many have died, families have been separated from dying loved ones, small businesses are shuttering their doors, and those living paycheck to paycheck are struggling to put food on their table,' he said in his statement. 

In Missouri there are over 6,000 cases and over 200 deaths in the the state. Nationwide there are over 800,000 cases of the virus and over 42,000 deaths. 

One estimate says that coronavirus lockdowns in the state have cost Missouri $44billion, according to Fox. 

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The lawsuit names The People’s Republic of China – which is the official Chinese government -and the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese President Xi Jinping pictured speaking with patients in Wuhan on March 10

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The lawsuit also accuses China of hiding key information that could have prevented the spread of the virus and hoarding masks and other personal protective equipment as the rest of the globe was in dire need. A paramilitary police officer wears a protective mask as he stands during a memorial on the Tiananmen Square national mourning for victims of the COVID-19 on April 4 in Beijing, China

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Masked Hong Kong residents waiting to cross a road in the financial center of the city on  Tuesday

The state also accuses China of hiding key information that could have prevented the spread of the virus and hoarding masks and other personal protective equipment as the rest of the globe was in dire need. 

'An appalling campaign of deceit, concealment, misfeasance, and inaction by Chinese authorities unleashed this pandemic,' the suit says.

'During the critical weeks of the initial outbreak, Chinese authorities deceived the public, suppressed crucial information, arrested whistleblowers, denied human-to-human transmission in the face of mounting evidence, destroyed critical medical research, permitted millions of people to be exposed to the virus, and even hoarded personal protective equipment—thus causing a global pandemic that was unnecessary and preventable.' 

While the suit lists a number of claims of China’s wrongdoing, it also mentions the theory that the virus could have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a biosafety level 4 lab that studies infectious diseases including coronavirus. 

The lawsuit names The People’s Republic of China – which is the official Chinese government -and the Chinese Communist Party. 

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China is already facing similar lawsuits filed by at least seven federal class-action suits filed by private groups in US courts.  

However, international law experts say that efforts to hold China liable for the coronavirus in U.S. courts will likely fail.

A legal doctrine called sovereign immunity offers foreign governments broad protection from being sued in U.S. courts, said Tom Ginsburg, a professor of international law at the University of Chicago, said to Reuters. 

He says the recent flurry of lawsuits against China serve a political end for Republican leaders facing an election in November.

'We are seeing a lot of people on the political right focus on the China issue to cover up for the U.S. government’s own errors,' Ginsburg said.

'If the United States wants to bring claims against China, it will have to do so in an international forum. There is no civil jurisdiction over such claims in U.S. courts,' Chimène Keitner, an international law professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, said.  

In Missouri, some politicians also slammed Schmitt for the lawsuit, saying it was for his own political agenda. 

Missouri Democratic Party Executive Director Lauren Gepford called the lawsuit a 'stunt' as Schmitt is up for re-election this year. 

This week China tried to clear its name from international criticism over its handling of the virus. 

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The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been at the centre of conspiracy theories, which suggest that the killer virus originated there. The above picture, taken on January 31, 2015, shows researchers taking part in a drill at the newly-completed virus lab

'The international community can overcome the virus only if it can stay united and cooperate to make concerted efforts,' China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said. 'Attacking and discrediting other countries simply wastes time and cannot save lost lives.'

He said that COVID-19 is 'common enemy of all mankind' and that China is 'also a victim.'   

However, China hasn't spoken on how it allegedly punished whistleblowers who tried to speak out about the novel coronavirus and its potential dangers. 

In April it was revealed that three whistle-blowers - Chen Qiushi, Fang Bing and Li Zehua - who tried to inform the world about the true scale of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan are still missing two months after vanishing from the public sight. 

The three citizen journalists had sought to expose the true scale of the outbreak from the then epicentre by uploading videos to YouTube and Twitter, both banned in mainland China and were last seen in February. 

A US congressman recently called on the State Department to urge China to investigate the disappearance of the three journalists.

In a letter dated March 31, Republican Representative Jim Banks asked the US government to seek a probe into the fates of Chen, Fang and Li.

'All three of these men understood the personal risk associated with independently reporting on coronavirus in China, but they did it anyway,' Banks wrote, alleging that the Chinese government 'imprisoned them - or worse'.