China should be held responsible for the coronavirus outbreak and compensate the rest of the world for its “criminal conduct,” a Republican senator said.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, announced on Tuesday he was introducing a resolution calling for a “full investigation” into the Chinese Communist Party’s “lies and actions” that allowed the spread of the COVID-19 virus around the world. And he called on Beijing to “pay damages to the USA and the world.”
The cost of Beijing’s criminal conduct should be assessed and they should pay damages to USA and the world
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 24, 2020
The text of Hawley’s resolution, which was introduced with a companion resolution in the House from Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, calls for the United States and other nations to “design a mechanism for delivering compensation” for the coronavirus outbreak. The resolution does not specify how much money the Chinese government should pay.
In a statement, Hawley said the Chinese Communist Party “lied to the world” about the origin of the pandemic.
“The CCP was aware of the reality of the virus as early as December but ordered laboratories to destroy samples and forced doctors to keep silent. It is time for an international investigation into the role their cover-up played in the spread of this devastating pandemic. The CCP must be held to account for what the world is now suffering,” he said.
Also on Tuesday, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced the “No CHINA Act,” legislation that would ensure no money appropriated by Congress in fiscal 2020, including relief funds used to prop up American businesses reeling from quarantine orders, goes toward supporting China.
Hawley, Gaetz, and other lawmakers have criticized the Chinese Communist Party for stifling whistleblowers and for not responding more quickly and transparently when it first learned about the highly contagious, flu-like disease late last year. President Trump has repeatedly referred to the disease as the “Chinese virus,” placing blame for its spread on China, where the coronavirus is widely believed to have originated.
In recent weeks, Chinese officials have accused the U.S. military of planting the virus in Wuhan, China, which has earned stern rebukes from U.S. officials.
There have been around 414,277 confirmed coronavirus cases around the world, 107,806 recoveries, and 18,557 deaths, according to the latest reading by the Johns Hopkins University tracker. In the U.S., there have been 51,542 cases and 674 deaths.
U.S. markets have plummeted since the start of the outbreak, and businesses have been shut down across the country to stop to spread of the virus. An official at the Federal Reserve estimated that unemployment in the U.S. could hit 30% because of the pandemic.
