China spent years claiming they handled COVID responsibly.
Missouri just proved they were lying the whole time.
And Eric Schmitt hit China with one judgment that sent them into a furious meltdown.
Missouri Won $24 Billion And China Lost Their Minds
Senator Eric Schmitt made history when he served as Missouri's Attorney General by doing something most legal experts said was impossible — he sued China for unleashing COVID on the world and won.
In March 2025, U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh awarded Missouri $24 billion after China refused to defend itself in court.¹
The judgment proved China concealed knowledge of COVID's human-to-human transmission as early as September 2019 while hoarding personal protective equipment and leaving the rest of the world defenseless.
China's response? A $50 billion revenge lawsuit targeting Schmitt, current Missouri officials, and the entire state.
The People's Government of Wuhan Municipality, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology filed suit claiming Missouri damaged their reputations through "malicious vexatious litigation" and "stigmatizing slanders."²
Translation: China's mad they got caught red-handed.
The lawsuit accuses Missouri of having "negative effects on the soft power" of Wuhan and claims the state "belittled the social evaluation" of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.³
These people unleashed a pandemic that killed over a million Americans and they're complaining about their reputation taking a hit.
Schmitt told Fox News' The Ingraham Angle exactly what he thinks about China's tantrum.
"It's totally ridiculous. They're just mad that we exposed their lies and their deceit," Schmitt stated. "Missouri got a $24 billion judgment against them, and they don't like that. They unleashed COVID on the world. We sued them, and we won."⁴
China's demanding public apologies across major U.S. and Chinese media platforms including the New York Times, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, YouTube, and Chinese state propaganda outlets.⁵
Federal Judge Laid Out Exactly How China Covered Up The Pandemic
Judge Limbaugh's ruling exposed the timeline China tried desperately to hide.
Evidence showed that by November 2019, illness rates in Wuhan were so high that government officials were canceling high school classes.⁶
The World Health Organization didn't learn about COVID until December 2019 — meaning China sat on critical information for months while the virus spread.
During that cover-up period, China launched an "aggressive campaign to hoard and monopolize" personal protective equipment.⁷
Trade data revealed that in January and February 2020, China imported more than 16 times as many medical masks as usual from the United States alone while lying about the virus's severity.⁸
Judge Limbaugh found that Missouri lost an estimated $8 billion in tax revenue between 2020 and 2051, plus $123 million in increased protective equipment costs due to China's hoarding.⁹
He tripled the damages to reach the final $24 billion judgment.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has formally requested the U.S. State Department notify China that the state intends to seize Chinese-owned assets — including Missouri farmland — to collect the full judgment.¹⁰
"China owes Missourians $24 billion," Hanaway declared. "The People's Republic of China is answerable to the extraordinary harm it inflicted on our citizens and our economy."¹¹
China's retaliation doesn't stop with the lawsuit.
Communist China Weaponized Fake Social Media Accounts Against Missouri
Research firm Graphika exposed a coordinated Chinese disinformation campaign targeting Missouri officials after the judgment.
A network of 105 fake pro-China accounts on X attacked Attorney General Hanaway, with about half the accounts created in November and December 2025 specifically for the harassment campaign.¹²
The accounts used gaming and animation profile pictures, had few or no followers, and used randomly generated handles — all hallmarks of Chinese state-sponsored influence operations.
"This is interesting, because we don't often see China-linked or pro-China actors targeting specific U.S. officials at the local level," explained Margot Hardy, the Graphika intelligence analyst who investigated the network.¹³
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., warned that China "will retaliate if necessary."¹⁴
They're already doing it through lawfare, cyber harassment, and diplomatic threats.
Schmitt called China's $50 billion counter-suit "factually baseless" and "legally meritless."
"This is their way of distracting from what the world already knows — China has blood on its hands," Schmitt stated. "China lied about the origins of COVID virus, they tried to cover it up, and they upended the world by creating a global pandemic that resulted in immense human loss."¹⁵
Missouri proved it all in federal court.
Now China wants revenge for getting exposed.
That $50 billion lawsuit isn't about justice — it's about intimidation.
China's hoping that threatening American officials with bogus lawsuits will make others think twice before holding them accountable.
Schmitt made clear that won't work: "I won't be apologizing any time soon, as you'd imagine."¹⁶
Missouri set the precedent that China can be held accountable for unleashing COVID on the world.
Other states are watching — Mississippi filed a similar lawsuit and held an evidentiary hearing in February 2025.¹⁷
If Missouri successfully seizes Chinese assets, expect more states to follow.
China's furious meltdown over a $24 billion judgment tells you everything you need to know about how worried they are that the truth is finally coming out.
¹ Angie Orellana Hernandez, "Missouri wins $24B judgment against China over its response to covid," The Washington Post, March 8, 2025.
² Taylor Penley, "Sen Eric Schmitt sued by China for $50B: 'I won't be apologizing,'" Fox News, December 17, 2025.
³ Catherine Hanaway, "China Declares Missouri an Economic and Reputational Menace in New Legal Action," Missouri Attorney General's Office, December 16, 2025.
⁴ Penley, Fox News.
⁵ "China sues Missouri as state moves to collect $24B COVID judgment," KTTN, December 17, 2025.
⁶ "Missouri wins $24B judgment against China over its response to COVID," Stars and Stripes, March 9, 2025.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ "Missouri AG faces coordinated, pro-China social media attacks over $24B COVID judgment," Missouri Independent, December 15, 2025.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Ibid.
¹³ Ibid.
¹⁴ Ibid.
¹⁵ "Senator Schmitt Sued and Targeted by Communist China in $50 Billion Lawfare Campaign," Senator Schmitt press release, December 16, 2025.
¹⁶ Penley, Fox News.
¹⁷ Sophia Tang, "The $24 Billion Judgment Against China in Missouri's COVID Suit," Conflict of Laws, March 19, 2025.
