So here the interesting thing about the Missouri lawsuit that is being put in the headlines as suing China. Again headline writes show themselves profoundly unworthy of such control. I should say I've been pretty skeptical of suing China over corona because given the 1/n
sovereign immunities law, which basically says you can't sue countries, never thought of these law suits as anything beyond grand standing. The Missouri suit however takes an important but key distinction in its approach. It names as defendants among others the CCP. 2/n
This is important for a couple of reasons. First, the CCP is not protected by sovereign immunity. The CCP is neither a government nor a state. It is not protected by sovereign immunities. Second, though because as everyone knows the Chinese state is effectively subordinate 3/n
to the CCP, this makes CCP actions in directing anything like a cover up etc as fair game in a lawsuit. If the government did that it is protected under sovereign immunity. When a CCP officer does it: not protected. Third, the CCP tries to separate or align itself with 4/n
the Chinese state depending on its mood. The CCP will now be forced to argue that it is essentially the government and state of China. This would be like the Democrats of GOP arguing they can't be sued because they are the state. That is going to be interesting. 5/n
Fourth, the lawsuit is targeting SOE assets that may have participated in events or that may be vulnerable for various reasons being located in the US. For instance, senior CCP members own large amount US real estate. Part of the reason this lawsuit names individuals is 6/n
to target individuals. Even in the most human rights driven lawsuit most lawyers are asking how do I pay my rent, can I realize a large enough policy change, or seize enough assets to make this worth while? There is a reason though the headline reads China, the actual 7/n
list of defendants includes the CCP and individuals, and I believe SOEs. With all that said, realistically chances are high this law suit will not succeed through to completion. However, there are a couple of key points in closing. First, China and the other defendents will 8/n
have to file something in this case. China will likely get it tossed quickly, the other defendants it is going to be more interesting. Second, if hard evidence gets produced of bad behavior then things will really get interesting. I'm not just talking about a censoring 9/n
Doctors but the type of malfeasance that would create corporate liability. The arguments and irony of making China, CCP, and key individuals file on this case will be very interesting.
