Missouri Resumes Lawsuit on China’s Handling of COVID-19 | China In Focus

welcome to China in Focus I'm Tiffany Meyer our top story legal actions in the midwest to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable a court in Missouri has agreed to continue a lawsuit against China's handling of co9 more on the latest in the proceedings Chinese hackers suspected of gaining access to a US geopolitics research group how did they do it Taiwanese voters getting report from Australian prime minister more details on his plea for all nations to respect taiwan's Democratic process and Germany's foreign minister shining a light on beijing's aggression toward the Philippines more on her remarks on the Chinese regime's [Music] actions legal action in America's Midwest after three years Idol and appeals court in Missouri has greenlit a lawsuit against China the state alleges that beijing's stockpiled masks and other protective gear during the covid-19 pandemic while keeping the rest of the world in the dark the case was first brought up by former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt his office claimed that China's suppression of covid related information led to thousands of deaths in his State and up to tens of billions of dollars in economic damage but the lawsuit was later tossed out in 2022 on grounds of a bill that prevents foreign entities from being sued in US courts now a federal court has reversed that decision based on one claim that is Beijing knowingly took advantage of the world's ignorance about the disease and hoarded medical supplies behind closed doors Missouri's current attorney general applauded the decision on X saying his state is ready to get back on the grind and pursue remedies in late January of 2020 China began to impose a lockdown on Wuhan the epicenter of the covid-19 outbreak but by the time all domestic flights were cut off from the city millions of people had already traveled abroad it was reported that authorities were aware of the human to human transmission by at least mid December 2019 what's more when the US was grappling with a mask shortage China was making most of them the regime produced about half of the world's masks pre- pandemic and that production spiked even further after the outbreak at the time several us manufacturers said Chinese authorities had claimed virtually all masks made by their plants in China and according to Minnesota based Medical Supply firm 3M most of its products sold out within the country even before the pandemic iic on top of that China also purchased a significant portion of the world's mask Supply in the first week after it locked down the city of Wuhan the regime bought up roughly $56 Million worth of respirators suspected Chinese hackers targeted a us-based research organization last month that's according to the US cyber security firm VX City The Firm wrote about the hacking in a blog post Wednesday flexity says hackers exploited two flaws on VPN software to gain access to the organization it didn't say what organization was targeted only that it does research on geopolitics including China issues and that it often draws attention from state-backed hackers the VPN software was made by Avanti which says they are developing an update to fix the fla Ivan is also urging its customers to take extra steps to protect themselves lexity says it alerted the government's cyber security agency facing pressure from Beijing a source of support emerges from Down Under taiwan's voters are preparing to pick a new president Saturday and Australia's prime minister Anthony albanes on Wednesday urged all governments to respect the outcome of taiwan's election it is important that uh everyone respect the outcome of democratic elections that's a matter for uh the people of Taiwan just two days ahead of the critical polls Australian's former Prime Minister Tony Abbott also urged deeper ties with Taiwan he said Australia should Step Up engagement with Taiwanese leaders including potentially visiting the self-governed island that's despite beijing's likely objections Taiwan heads to the polls on January 13th to elect a new president and legislature vice president William lie of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party is running for president against the ging dang's hoi and Taiwan people's party's Ken big decisions in Taiwan and countries around the world are tuning in the Island's leading presidential candidate strongly backs taiwan's sovereignty while Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping talks tough on reunification how could this impact the world nd's Steve Lance sat down with Justin Logan of The kadal Institute about the implications of the election and an increasingly unstable Chinese regime there's been considerable continuity on maybe the most important issue from the US point of view which is taiwan's level of Defense effort on its own part um I think there's been a real focus on us China military competition us China balancing behavior in and around Taiwan but there are certain things that Taiwan has to do uh for its own defense uh survive a potentially missile bombardment um from China should China make a play at Taiwan um and prevent China from developing a beach head right where China could conceivably invade Taiwan and we've seen pretty consistently taiwan's defense spending hover around or under 2% of GDP close to 1% of GDP and so I think that's been continuous among both uh kmt and uh DPP are now sort of the Coalition candidates so I think there's a increasing sense in Washington that there needs to be pressure applied to Tai Bay um to lift that level of effort both in terms of the overall quantity of effort um and in focusing on asymmetric capabilities that can compound Chinese military planning so I think there's been a sense that um to oversimplify people in Washington sometimes say well the kmt is soft on China um historically the DPP or now the Coalition has been uh uh had a more uh tough on China posture but I think for the things that matter from a US point of view there's been continuity and so I think there's a growing realization that that the United States needs to make that case forcefully to Taiwan with regard to XI Jin ping the dictator of China's recent comments of you know inevitable reunification if you will with Taiwan are the stakes raised a bit and what do you make of his most recent comments in his new year address yeah it is unnerving and I think it's important to realize that Xi Jinping may not know his own date right the leaders frequently in in international politics don't know what they'll be doing in the afternoon um so it's nothing is foreordained but I think that if you want peace prepare for war uh is a is a good aphorism in this context and I think you know the United States but certainly Taiwan um should be thinking very carefully and in detailed fashion about what sorts of things they need to do to make it look like a less appealing Prospect for Xi Jinping to to attack Taiwan over in Europe Berlin is offering its support to the Philippines Germany's foreign minister Thursday criticizing beijing's aggression against the US Ally Chinese Coast Guard vessels rammed Filipino boats fired water cannons at them and even put up floating barriers all to prevent the Filipino vessels from entering a disputed sh in the South China Sea foreign minister analina barbach said these actions are causing concern in Europe such risky Maneuvers violates the rights and economic development opportunities of your country and other neighboring countries the disputed sha is located in the middle of the South China Sea close to shipping lanes that carry an estimated $3.4 trillion worth of annual Commerce multiple countries including the Philippines claim parts of the South China Sea Beijing has a much bigger appetite though claiming almost all of it an international court has invalidated China's claims barbach is in Manila to commemorate the 70th anniversary of German Philippine diplomatic ties she is the first foreign minister to visit the Philippines in over a decade a diplomatic shift in the Indian Ocean China and the Maldives are upgrading their relationship during President Muhammad mui's first ever State visit to Beijing what's behind his trip here's more president Xi Jinping called president Muhammad muu of the Maldives an old friend on his first state visit to China on Wednesday it's a sign of an upgraded relationship between the two countries as China sets the stage for further investment in the Indian Ocean archipelago by agreeing to a comprehensive strategic Cooperative partnership muu took office in November after winning on his India out platform in which he cast China's Regional rival as a threat to sovereignty his government has since asked dozens of locally based Indian military personnel to leave while talking up opportunities for Chinese investors despite already owing Beijing around $1.4 billion relations between India and China nose dived after both sides clashed in the western Himalayas in 2020 resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops the relationship between the Maldives and India further soured over the weekend after three now suspended Deputy ministers from the island nation disparaged India's prime minister Narendra Modi on social media on Monday one of India's largest travel platform suspended flight bookings to the tourism dependent country she said he backed inre the number of direct flights between the two countries and a potential Boon for the Mal's travel and tourism sector the Maldives owes around 20% of its public debt to China according to World Bank data making Beijing its biggest bilateral creditor ahead of Saudi Arabia and India which it owes over $120 million to each beijing's strategic gaze falls on the Maldives over its VIP location in the Indian Ocean it's nestled by vital sea Roots where a lot of TR trade and energy flow between the Middle East and East Asia China and the Maldives Inked a trade pack in 2017 making the country a hot bed for Chinese investment through beijing's belt and Road initiative Chinese Regulators are tying up loopholes as Beijing grapples with a sluggish economy and mounting local debt according to writter sources they've put a stop to a policy Gap that allowed local governments to run up their tabs the pole ties into entities called local government financing Vehicles local branches of government under the Chinese Communist party set them up to fund infrastructure projects but they've piled on the liabilities in recent years their combined debt now reaching around 9 trillion to get to that point the financing Vehicles had been issuing offshore bonds valid for 364 days allowing them to skirt rules requiring permission for foreign borrowing that exceeds one year the regulation clamp down comes after a surge of the sub oneyear bonds a whopping 27 of them issued in 2023 12 of those came from shendong Province and brought in over a billion dollars China has made a number of policy adjustments and rate Cuts in recent months to contend with its financial troubles that's all for today's China INF focus on YouTube we're now sharing a shorten version of our program here after being demonetized for more than 2 years if you'd like to support us consider donating find us at donorbox.org ch- in-focus or subscribe to our partner platform epic TV where you can watch our full episodes here's what to look out for in our second half coming up the UN Security Council demanding an end to hooti attacks in the Red Sea with a new resolution discover who's on board and who's stepping back researchers taking a closer look at Tik Tok trends now need special permission the social media platform just pulled the plug on a tool used to look at popular hashtags more on why and audience members in California praise Shan's Artistry one human rights activist saying the performance hits in the soul more on that after the break here on China in [Music] focus thanks for watching China in Focus I'm Tiffany Meyer see you [Music] tomorrow