[20200515]LSB10467_外国主权豁免与2019冠状病毒疾病对中国的诉讼.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Foreign Sovereign Immunity and COVID-19 Lawsuits Against China May 15, 2020 Putative classes of plaintiffs have launched at least five class action lawsuits against the government of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC or China) for losses in the United States associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Two statesMissouri and Mississippihave also lodged claims in federal court against China and Chinese entities for COVID-19 associated losses in those states. The lawsuits essentially allege that the PRC governments early failure to accurately inform the World Health Organization and the world community about the contagiousness and scope of outbreak of the disease in China, along with other actions to conceal vital information, prevented containment of the coronavirus and directly led to its reaching global pandemic proportions. Each of these lawsuits faces a common initial hurdle: jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). This Legal Sidebar analyzes two possible exceptions under the FSIA that these lawsuits have asserted as a jurisdictional basis and describes some legisla