Republican Senators Target China

April 15, 2020 (EIRNS)—Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), and other fanatically anti-Chinese Republican Senators, with apparent backing from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are proposing legislation and hearings that would blame China as fully responsible for the global coronavirus pandemic, saying that the Communist Party of China “unleashed this pandemic” on the world.

This dangerous idea came straight from a British intelligence asset, the Henry Jackson Society (a British-registered organization), which issued a report nine days ago calling for such lawsuits to make China pay for the pandemic.

On his Senatorial website, Hawley announced April 14:

“Today, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced the Justice for Victims of COVID-19 Act to hold the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responsible for causing the COVID-19 global pandemic. The bill would strip China of its sovereign immunity and create a private right of action against the CCP for reckless actions like silencing whistleblowers and withholding critical information about COVID-19. The plan would also create the Justice for Victims of COVID-19 Task Force at the State Department to lead an international investigation into Beijing’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and to secure compensation from the Chinese government.

“There is overwhelming evidence that the Chinese Communist Party’s lies, deceit, and incompetence caused COVID-19 to transform from a local disease outbreak into a global pandemic. We need an international investigation to learn the full extent of the damage the CCP has inflicted on the world and then we need to empower Americans and other victims around the world to recover damages. The CCP unleashed this pandemic. They must be held accountable to their victims.”

Hawley’s legislation would make the Chinese government “liable for civil claims in the U.S. courts.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced that his committee is going to conduct oversight on this thing in its entirety, Politico reported. While he said that he would investigate some legitimate questions—such as why the U.S. stockpile of crucial medical supplies “wasn’t better prepared”—he also said he would investigation “the World Health Organization’s response, and how the virus spread, and where did this all start from? Was this transferred animal to humans? Was this from a lab in China?” Further, “we need to know what role WHO might have had in trying to cover this thing up?”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tweeted April 12, “Time to quarantine China from the civilized world.”

Meanwhile, in an interview April 14 on the radio show “Good Morning Orlando,” Secretary of State Pompeo made the implied threat, “I’m very confident that when the time is right, those who didn’t act appropriately, or misled or didn’t put information out properly, or frankly those who engaged in disinformation campaigns, I’m confident they’ll be held accountable, when the time comes.”