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US senator Josh Hawley introduced a bill that would allow Americans to sue China for damages over harm caused by the coronavirus. Photo: AFP

US senator calls China’s threat over coronavirus bill a ‘badge of honour’

  • Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, says he’s not backing down over draft legislation that would allow Americans to sue Chinese government
  • State tabloid Global Times had cited sources saying Beijing was considering punitive measures against US politicians and companies
A Missouri senator has fired back at a Chinese tabloid that named him as a potential target of Beijing’s countermeasures – which could hurt politicians and businesses from the US state – over a bill allowing Americans to sue China for missteps during the coronavirus pandemic.
Josh Hawley, a Republican, tweeted on Friday that threats in the hawkish state newspaper Global Times, which cited sources saying Beijing was considering punitive measures against US politicians, were a “badge of honour”. Hawley had in mid-April introduced draft legislation that would allow Americans to sue China for damages over harm caused by the disease.

“Chinese state media singling me out with threats – and threatening Missouri too,” he wrote. “Beijing can bluster all it wants. I’m not backing down.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday urged some in the United States to stop seeking to shift blame in the health crisis, while he declined to directly confirm whether Beijing would roll out countermeasures against figures such as Missouri’s attorney general Eric Schmitt. In April, Schmitt filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government, claiming denials and cover-ups had led to the pandemic that caused “enormous loss of life, human suffering and economic turmoil” for Missourians.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian urged some in the US to stop trying to shift blame. Photo: AFP

China was the third largest export market for Missouri’s goods in 2019 after Canada and Mexico, worth around US$1.1 billion, with top exports such as oilseeds and grains, and meat products. In 2018, China was also the state’s third top services export market at US$775 million, thanks largely to travel and education, according to figures from the US-China Business Council.

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Missouri’s exports to China supported some 12,900 American jobs in 2018, the non-profit group said.

The Midwestern state had already been hit by the protracted trade war between Beijing and Washington, which saw billions in tariffs levied from mid-2018. In particular, local farmers were hurt by Chinese tariffs on US soybeans as prices for the state’s top crop fell, the Missouri Soybean Association said.

Bryce Baker, general manager of Missouri’s Pilot Grove Co-Op, told local NBC affiliate KOMU in January that soybeans accounted for around 50 per cent of the state’s agricultural exports to China, and that the trade tensions had “really hurt the bottom line on farmer profits for the last 18 months”.

Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt was also named in the Global Times report. Photo: AP

The Global Times report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources, also said that some Missouri companies with long-term investments in China were “likely to feel severe consequences if China strikes back with punitive measures in response to the coronavirus lawsuit”.

It specifically named Emerson Electric, a manufacturing company based in Ferguson, Missouri, which has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, and opened a research and solutions centre in Suzhou last April.

Other Missouri-based companies with a presence in China include the American agrochemical firm Monsanto, the world’s top seed company. There are also Chinese companies with business in Missouri, including Chinese automotive giant Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which has worked with Missouri Technology Corporation and the state’s Hazelwood city.

Sheena Greitens, assistant professor of political science at the University of Missouri, tweeted on Thursday that Chinese officials perceived the Midwest as US President Donald Trump’s base, and that targeting this base ahead of the November election would be a “confrontational and fairly high-risk strategy at a time when US-China relations are already fraught”.

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“This may just be rhetoric,” she wrote, noting it was unclear how significant potential countermeasures would be. “It’s rare for China to threaten individual politicians [with] economic punishment, but companies have been targeted before.”

Greitens said it was also unclear how the potential threat would manifest, but that China could retaliate with boycotts on specific exports from certain districts or states, then with other measures for targeted individuals.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: US senator says China threats ‘badge of honour’
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