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Accusations Against China over COVID-19 Totally Unfounded

Writer:Zhu Weidong Date:04/15/2020

So far, China has made great achievements in the fight against COVID-19, and the social and economic order in China are gradually returning to normal. But the number of the COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths is still increasing in some other countries and regions. Some politicians from the western countries stigmatized China or even smeared the Chinese government and people's support and help to other countries and people in order to shift their own people's criticisms.

In particular, some politicians and lawyers, regardless of the facts and laws, attempted to invoke China's "state responsibility" for the spread of the epidemic through legal means, and they even considered to seek "compensation" from China after the pandemic. For example, in this March and April, some law firms in the United States and the All India Bar Association in India filed lawsuits or complaints against China, respectively, asking the Chinese government to take responsibility for the spread of the epidemic and to make compensations for personal and property losses.

Some international law lawyers and research institutions abroad also tried to find "lawful" ways and excuses for taking China to international tribunals. For example, earlier in this April, a lawyer in the United States wrote on the blog of the European Journal of International Law to analyze how to institute litigation against China in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in accordance with the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO); a think tank in the United Kingdom also published a research report alleging that China did not timely, accurately and truthfully report the epidemic situation under the IHR and it proposed ten potential legal avenues for both states and individuals to seek compensation for damages wrought by wrongful act in the spread of COVID-19, including bringing the lawsuit to the WHO, the ICJ, the courts of the United States or the United Kingdom, etc.

These lawsuits and accusations are not tenable in fact or in law. They are all based on such an allegation that China has not timely, accurately, sufficiently informed the WHO about the coronavirus in accordance with the provisions of the IHR. In response to this allegation, the relevant departments in China and the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China had vigorously refuted it with a large number of facts, and the Timeline of China Releasing Information on COVID-19 published by Xinhua News Agency on April 6 also disclosed the whole series of prevention and control measures that China had taken since the outbreak of COVID-19. According to the notification measures taken by China after the outbreak, China’s reports to WHO about COVID-19 are in full compliance with the IHR.

From the legal point of view, the foreign lawsuits mentioned above are mainly brought in countries that adopt the restrictive sovereign immunity doctrine. However, in terms of the exceptions to the sovereign immunity under which a foreign state may be sued in such countries, the above lawsuits against the China in respect of COVID-19 do not fall into these exceptions at all.

In addition, China has always adhered to the absolute sovereign immunity doctrine, and China stands firmly against any litigation instituted in the foreign courts in which China is a respondent. Therefore, no matter from the perspective of fact or law, the above law suits or accusations against the China is meaningless.

As Chimène Keitner, the professor of international law at the Hastings School of law at the University of California, who served as the 27th Counselor on International Law at the US Department of State, pointed out on the website Just Security, “there is no basis for jurisdiction in a US court”, and "don't bother suing China for the coronavirus.".

Now, we are standing at the critical moment for the prevention and control of the COVID-19. For the international community, this is the time of cooperation instead of  hostility and confrontation; this is the time of joining hands to fight against our common enemies instead of fighting each other among ourselves. The politicians in some western countries need to reflect deeply on what they have done for their country and fellow citizens, rather than blindly blame and attack the other countries. It is not a wise way to appease the discontent of their own people by accusing others。

( the author is the research fellow at the China-Africa Institute)

Copyright: China-Africa Institute