Sen. Dianne Feinstein had plenty of warm words for China as she defended the nation against a bill that would allow U.S. citizens to sue the Chinese government.
The California Democrat argued on Thursday that U.S. citizens should not be allowed to sue the Chinese government over its alleged cover-up of the coronavirus pandemic because she believes that it could lead to retaliatory measures against the United States from other countries.
“In the words of my predecessor, speaking, we hold China as a potential trading partner, as a country that has pulled millions, tens of millions, of people out of poverty in a short period of time, and as a country growing into a respectable nation among other nations,” Feinstein said.
“I deeply believe that. I’ve been to China a number of times. I’ve studied the issues. […] The United States has the most to lose by permitting civil lawsuits against China for harms arising from COVID,” she added, referring to testimony from recent Judiciary Committee hearings.
Feinstein said it would be a “huge mistake” to allow citizens to sue China. Several states and individuals have expressed a desire to sue China for releasing misleading studies that claimed the coronavirus could not transfer between people and forbidding outside investigators from entering Wuhan at the beginning of the pandemic.
In addition to criticisms about China’s handling of the coronavirus, China has faced recent criticism from the U.S. for stealing intellectual property, infringing on the independence of Hong Kong, and detaining Uighur Muslims in concentration camps.