Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has announced that the state will begin legal proceedings to seize Chinese-owned assets, including farmland, to collect on a $24 billion civil judgment awarded against the Chinese government for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In an interview with Just the News this week, Bailey said the state is acting quickly to enforce the judgment, which was handed down earlier this month by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr.

“Missouri will start to identify and begin going to court to have court orders issued to seize those assets to make good on that judgment,” Bailey told the John Solomon Reports podcast.

The federal court ruling stems from a lawsuit initially filed in 2020 by then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt, now a U.S. Senator.

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The suit accused the Chinese Communist Party of covering up the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak and engaging in hoarding practices involving personal protective equipment (PPE), which harmed Missouri’s ability to respond to the pandemic.

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In his ruling, Judge Limbaugh held China liable for damages, stating, “China was misleading the world about the dangers and scope of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

He added, “Missouri has demonstrated that the State has suffered significant harm in the form of lost net general tax revenue the State of Missouri would have collected but-for Defendants’ hoarding of PPE.”

Because the Chinese government refused to participate in the litigation, the ruling was entered as a default judgment.

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China has rejected the decision, with embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu telling The New York Times, “The so-called lawsuit has no basis in fact, law or international precedence. China does not and will not accept it. If China’s interests are harmed, we will firmly take reciprocal countermeasures according to international law.”

Missouri pursued the case under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), a 1976 law signed by President Gerald Ford that outlines when foreign governments can be held accountable in U.S. courts. Missouri prevailed both in federal appeals court and during the January trial.

Attorney General Bailey said that the FSIA provides tools to identify and seize foreign assets located in the United States to satisfy lawful judgments.

“Look, China had an ability and an opportunity to participate in litigation. They were served with notice of the litigation. They do business in the United States of America,” Bailey said.

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“They own an exorbitant amount of agricultural land in the United States of America, which they shouldn’t be allowed to do, but they do, and so they’re subject to laws of the United States of America, to include the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.”

Bailey emphasized the state’s intention to follow through on the judgment.

“But that’s how little they think of these United States of America, that they couldn’t even be bothered to show up to court after having been served notice of our lawsuit. And so we’re going to execute the judgment, and we’re going to make Missourians whole.”

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The move to seize Chinese-owned farmland aligns with broader efforts across the U.S. to address foreign ownership of American agricultural land.

Several states have passed or proposed legislation to ban foreign adversaries like China from owning property near military installations and strategic assets.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, foreign interests owned approximately 40.8 million acres of U.S. farmland as of 2021.

Chinese ownership accounted for about 384,000 acres of that total.

Bailey stated that Missouri’s enforcement of the $24 billion judgment could serve both as legal accountability and as a step toward reducing China’s agricultural footprint in the state.

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