Missouri threatens to seize Chinese-owned farmland after $24 billion judgment
On March 7, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced his state had won a $24 billion judgment in federal court against China for unleashing the COVID-19 pandemic and hoarding personal protective equipment.
Judge Steven Limbaugh of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri imposed the judgment against China, its governing Communist Party, and local governments in China, as well as a health agency and a laboratory in the country. The lawsuit had been originally filed by former Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt in 2020.
The judgment is six times more than the previous largest judgment in Missouri history.
“This is a landmark victory for Missouri and the United States in the fight to hold China accountable for unleashing COVID-19 on the world,” Bailey said. “China refused to show up to court, but that doesn’t mean they get away with causing untold suffering and economic devastation. We intend to collect every penny by seizing Chinese-owned assets, including Missouri farmland.”
China has refused to recognize the judgment. “The so-called lawsuit has no basis in fact, law or international precedence,” said Liu Pengyu, a Chinese spokesperson, in a statement. “China does not and will not accept it. If China’s interests are harmed, we will firmly take reciprocal countermeasures according to international law.”
Lawsuits against foreign entities are limited by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and Limbaugh dismissed the suit at first. But he accepted it after an appeals court ruled that one portion of the suit, about the hoarding of PPE, was valid and sent it back to the district court.
Limbaugh ruled that Missouri “has established this claim of damages through evidence satisfactory to the court,” proving that China caused and exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic, harming Missourians. The full list of defendants includes People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party of China, the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, the People’s Government of Hubei Province, the People’s Government of Wuhan City, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Bailey said Missouri will now move to collect the $24 billion judgment and, if necessary, will work with the Trump administration to identify and seize Chinese-owned assets.
Chinese ownership of farmland is a hot-button issue in Missouri. During the state’s 2023 legislative session, House Minority Leader and 2024 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) introduced legislation that would ban foreign ownership of land in Missouri. A modified version of the bill made it to the Senate and gained Republican support, but it was not voted on before the session ended.
According to lists maintained by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, 118,762 acres of Missouri farmland are owned by foreign-based enterprises, or a total of 0.43% of the 27.5 million acres in the state. The Chinese are the single largest foreign owner of farmland, with Canada in a distant second place. But 99% of the Chinese-owned land belongs to one owner, Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the U.S., which was originally based in Virginia but was bought by Hong Kong-based WH Group for $4.7 billion in 2013.
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