Class-action lawsuits filed in the U.S. states of Florida and Mississippi are not only untenable under international law, but also have no basis in the country's domestic law, and are designed to make China a scapegoat for the U.S.’ inability to handle the virus, according to well-known experts on international law.

Class-action lawsuits filed in Florida and Mississippi seek to "make China pay for what they've done" in its handling of the coronavirus crisis, demanding billions of dollars in "damages".

Such a claim is totally untenable under international law, stressed Professor Xiao Yongping, Director of the Institute of International Law at Wuhan University in central China's Hubei province.

China bears no state responsibility for the spread of the virus under international law, as the origin of COVID-19 cannot be attributed to any particular society or country, and ”patient zero" does not necessarily come from China. Meanwhile, there is no basis to say that China has committed internationally wrongful acts. Therefore, China does not assume state responsibility for the global spread of COVID -19, said Xiao Yongping.

Furthermore, the lawsuits filed in the U.S. courts violate both the principle of sovereign equality in international law and the principle of sovereign immunity enshrined in U.S. domestic law itself.

"There is no jurisdiction between equals" and the sovereign equality of states is a basic principle of international law, said Huo Zhengxin, Professor of Law at the China University of Political Science and Law, noting that as a sovereign state, China is exempt from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.

"Even under the U.S. domestic law, the U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over such proceedings," Huo Zhengxin added.

"It is obviously political in nature to pay no attention to science, to claim that China is where the virus originated, to accuse China of concealing the epidemic in disregard of objective facts, and to demand that China bear legal responsibility for the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, which is in disregard of basic legal rules," said Xiao Yongping.

Xiao also explained that the essence of these lawsuits lies in the fact that some politicians are trying to divert the focus of contradictions caused by the ineffective fight against the epidemic in the United States, serving as campaign strategies adopted by the Trump administration in seeking re-election, as well as political manipulative maneuvers designed to stigmatize China's international image.

China will certainly be able to fight off the "political virus" of the United States, as long as it rationally responds to these lawsuits in accordance with the law, makes preparations for a protracted war, integrates diplomatic and legal measures, strengthens the handling of individual cases and system construction, adopts targeted and different response methods at different stages of these lawsuits, and at the same time enhances international cooperation by taking advantage of the opportunity for the World Health Organization (WHO) to conduct a comprehensive and independent investigation into the COVID-19 epidemic, according to Xiao Yongping.

Xiao Yongping added that China should show these class-action lawsuits filed in the U.S. against China to be a disgraceful farce in the history of the development of the international rule of law.