The US Capitol building is seen in Washington D.C. April 19, 2020.Photo:Xinhua

A real-life political farce is playing out in the hometown of famous American writer Mark Twain. Suing China as part of a choreographed "Blame China" campaign led by American hawks like Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is one of the common tactics being used, as long-term anti-China political elites see Beijing's rising status as the biggest obstacle to "making America great again," observers said.  

Missouri became the first US state to file a lawsuit against the Chinese government for its handling of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) outbreak, even though it doesn't have any grounds to sue due to sovereign immunity. 

Some analysts also noted that just like Missouri, a place dubbed the "Show Me" State, Republicans should be ashamed of using groundless evidence for legal proceedings to achieve their goals in the November elections. 

In the lawsuit filed against Beijing, Eric Schmitt, Missouri Attorney General, who is also the plaintiff of the case, sued three ministries, the Chinese government, Communist Party of China, the provincial and municipal-level Hubei and Wuhan governments, as well as the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to the lawsuit document. 

Schmitt blames those government agencies and institutions for "deceit, concealment, misfeasance and inaction" that unleashed this pandemic. However, almost all the 115 pieces of evidence listed as the nature of the action are from previous US media reports, including far-right US media outlet Fox News, which has long covered China in a biased way, and the Wall Street Journal, which published an opinion piece with racist headline defaming China amid the outbreak, sparking wide-ranging criticism over the arrogance, prejudice and ignorance of Western mainstream media. 

Even more ironically, the document cited nine articles from American right-wing opinion-driven magazine National Review as major sources, or in other words, so-called "evidence" to prove China's missteps that fueled the COVID-19 spread. Some of those reports hyped the virus as being manmade, and distorted facts. For instance, Fox News claimed it was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which contradicted scientists and medical experts' evaluation of the virus when the World Health Organization confirmed that available evidence shows the virus originated in animals and was not created in a laboratory. 

It will be difficult to proceed with the lawsuit, as the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 extends immunity to countries from most lawsuits in the US. However, such immunity does not apply when it comes to commercial activities according to 1605(a)(2) of the Act, said Peng Qinxuan, an expert from the Wuhan University Institute of International Law.

Schmitt was quoted as saying in an NPR report that there's an exception for commercial activity and alleges that labs and hospitals are commercial ventures, while some American law experts also suggested that if the US wants to levy charges on China, it would have to do so in international court. 

However, none of the treaties addressing the international spread of infectious diseases dating back to the 19th century have rules requiring payment of compensation for damage in other countries associated with violations of treaty rules, David Fidler, visiting professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, said in an article published on justsecurity.org in March. The leading contemporary treaty, the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), has no provisions on this issue, he said. 

The US is filing lawsuits against China at federal and state level and may amend some legal provisions to facilitate the process of suing China. Once it wins at the federal level, it may provide a "legal" basis for US long-arm jurisdiction, Zhu Ying, deputy director of the National Human Rights Education and Training Base of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

The hyping of these lawsuits has political purposes and their legal basis is not practical. The virus is an invisible enemy, while China is visible. By filing these lawsuits, the US and some Western countries want to slander and isolate China, hyping the country as the origin of the virus and stirring up anti-China sentiments in the international community, Zhu noted. 

Geng Shuang, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, slammed the latest US lawsuit against China, claiming that the alleged accusation has no basis in fact or law and is ridiculous. "The sovereign actions taken by the Chinese government in the prevention and control of the coronavirus epidemic are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US courts," he said.

The latest move is part of a flurry of lawsuits in the West, using China as a scapegoat to advance their political agenda. 

Ni Feng, deputy director of the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the move is mostly a political manipulation aimed at scapegoating China and winning votes rather than a real claim for compensation. 

These US politicians know that legal action will attract public attention, especially at such a critical moment and given the tough epidemic situation in the US, and they are also aware that judicial procedures will take a very long time, giving them a long time to play their game, according to Ni.