美国原告诉称，中国政府及有关部门明知新冠肺炎极度危险性并很可能引发全球大流行，却反应迟缓，“像鸵鸟一样把头埋进沙子里”，企图逃避问题，这种不作为导致了新冠肺炎的全球性爆发。

原告还声称，武汉病毒研究所是中国政府为研制生化武器而设立的实验室，新冠肺炎病毒即是从该所泄露的。因此，原告要求中国政府及有关部门赔偿美国受害人因新冠肺炎爆发而遭受的经济和非经济损失、物质和精神损害，赔偿金额超过20万亿美元。

作为法学教授，出于对法院的尊重和信任，我通常不会对未决诉讼发表个人观点。但是，上述诉讼行为是对法律尊严的挑战，是对国际法律界核心价值的蔑视，因此，我无法再继续保持沉默，认为必须及时做出回应。

首先，上述针对中国的指控无视常识，歪曲事实。新冠肺炎是由一种以往未被发现过的新型病毒引发的，我们对这种新型病毒知之甚少，要想完全掌握该病毒的特征和行为机制并彻底控制疾病的传播需要经历一个渐进的过程。因此，2019年12月发现第一例“神秘肺炎”时，武汉政府及有关部门在相关知识有限的情况下，是难以利用零散的信息准确拼凑出该病毒的全貌的，更难以在此基础上预测到其快速传播的风险以及后来的全球大流行。

事实上，回顾整个进程，可以发现，中国政府及有关部门采取的公共卫生应对措施是高效、迅速的，有效地减缓了新冠肺炎向国外传播的速度。自1月3日起，中国政府即开始与美国政府共享该病毒的信息。1月9日，中国中央电视台公开报道发现了新型病毒，即我们现在所称的新型冠状病毒（2019-nCoV）。1月12日，中国科学家以前所未有的速度研究出了该病毒的基因序列，并第一时间向国际社会分享了这一成果。1月20日，中国国家主席习近平就疫情的爆发首次发表公开声明，要求中国各级政府部门“将人民的生命和健康置于首位”。1月23日，武汉市封城，这个关键性的举措使病毒的全球传播时间推迟了两到三周，为世界各国的防疫争取了宝贵的时间。截至目前，中国也是全世界唯一一个有效控制了新冠肺炎大流行的国家。

退一步说，即使中国地方政府如美国原告所称那样在早期反应不够迅速，美国政府面对疫情的迟钝反映和糟糕应对表现也已经使这场“甩锅”游戏变得毫无意义。至于原告所谓“新冠病毒是中国制造的大规模杀伤性生物武器”的荒谬指控，我认为根本无需进行反驳，这种缺乏根据的言论将不攻自破。

第二，上述诉讼挑战了中国的国家主权，违反了国际法原则。国家及其财产的豁免权是基于国家主权平等原则的国际法原则之一。中国作为一个主权国家，应当享有美国国内法院管辖权的豁免。这并不是中国首次在美国法院受到起诉，因此，如有必要，中国政府一定会再次重申“国家和财产不受他国国内法院管辖”的立场。

最后，也是很重要的一点，上述诉讼甚至缺乏美国国内法上的依据。与中国不同，美国采用的是限制性豁免理论，1976年《外国主权豁免法案》（FSIA）是美国国内法院对其他主权国家享有管辖权的唯一法律依据。根据该法案，若争端国的涉诉行为涉及商业活动或构成侵权，则不享有国家豁免权，可以在美国国内法院被起诉。

但是，中国政府被指控的相关行为并不构成国家主权豁免的例外。首先，到目前为止，中国应对新冠肺炎的措施均为政府行为，不是商业行为。其次，根据FSIA的第1605（a）条和美国最高法院的判例，只有当侵权行为及损害结果均发生在美国时，才属于“因侵权而不享有国家主权豁免”的情况。而在这两起集体诉讼中，被指控的所谓“中国政府的侵权行为”只发生在中国，因此，不应当属于该法案规定的侵权例外。

基于以上分析，我认为，目前在美国法院进行的集体诉讼不过是“一场以法律为名的闹剧”。病毒不受国界羁绊，也不知何谓国籍，它是全人类共同的挑战。在此危难时刻，国际社会应当团结在一起，彼此信赖、相互合作。只要各国真正做到团结协作、守望相助，我们就能击败这个看不见的共同敌人——COVID-19。相反，如果某些美国人继续责难他国，玩“甩锅游戏”，那么，没有人会成为赢家。

作者：霍政欣，中国政法大学国际法学教授、博士生导师，仲裁研究院研究员；主要研究领域为国际私法、文化财产法、国际民商事争议解决等；兼任联合国教科文组织1970年公约观察员、中国国际私法学会常务理事、北京市国际法学副会长。

译者：中国政法大学中欧法学院硕士研究生 岳婉蓁

附原文：https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-03-20/Suing-China-for-causing-COVID-19-pandemic-A-farce-in-the-name-of-law--P11Dmmw1xu/index.html?from=timeline&isappinstalled=0

As the world is in the middle of the battle against COVID-19, two class actions were filed against China for "damages suffered as the result of the coronavirus pandemic" before the U.S. District Court in Florida and Texas, shocking the Chinese legal community.

The American plaintiffs in these lawsuits alleged that the Chinese authorities knew that COVID-19 was dangerous and capable of causing a pandemic, and yet they slowly responded to the novel coronavirus by "proverbially putting their head in the sand," sparking the global COVID-19 outbreak.

They even go as far as alleging that the COVID-19 virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which they claimed was a biological weapons research lab run by the Chinese government. Therefore, they demand that Chinese authorities should pay damages to all American victims for their economic and non-economic damages, injury and loss related to the outbreak of COVID-19, an award in excess of 20 trillion U.S. dollars.

As a law professor, I usually do not comment on pending lawsuits out of respect for and trust in courts. Nonetheless, I cannot help making a quick response this time insofar as the present actions before the American courts threaten the dignity of law and defy the core values that the global legal community treasures.

First of all, the allegations against China in these lawsuits ignore common sense and distort the facts. As COVID-19 is a novel virus with many details remaining unknown, it takes time to truly understand the virus and be able to contain the spread of the disease. Therefore, when the first case of "a mysterious pneumonia" was discovered in Wuhan in December 2019, there was not enough knowledge and information to piece together an accurate picture of a yet-to-be-identified new virus, let alone to predict the risk of quick spreading and the later global pandemic. In fact, a retrospective examination suggests that Chinese authorities have responded with high efficiency which has effectively postponed the spread of COVID-19 to foreign countries.  

Since January 3, the Chinese government has shared information on the virus with the U.S. government; by January 9, China Central Television reported a major discovery: A new virus, now known as 2019-nCoV.

On January 12, Chinese scientists shared the genetic sequence of the virus internationally, at unprecedented speed. On January 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first public statement on the outbreak, demanding that all parts of the Chinese government "put people's lives and health first." On January 23, Chinese authorities locked down the city of Wuhan, which was a critical move to slow the spread of the virus to the rest of the world by two or three weeks. As of now, China is the only country in the whole world which has brought the COVID-19 pandemic under control.

Therefore, if these American plaintiffs complained about the outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. and attempted to seek damages, they should, in my opinion, sue against the American administration instead of the Chinese government. Even if the government of China hadn't responded to the virus quickly enough, as alleged by these Americans, the response failure of the U.S. renders the blame game ineffective. As to the allegation that COVID-19 is designed by China to be a very "effective" and catastrophic biological warfare weapon to kill mass populations, I have no interest at all in arguing against such an outlandish rumor.

Second, the lawsuits challenge the sovereignty of China and violate the principle of international law. The immunities of state and their property is a principle of international law based on the principle of sovereign equality of all states. Therefore, China, as a sovereign state, enjoys immunity from the jurisdiction of domestic American courts. As this is not the first time that China has been sued in U.S. courts, it is beyond doubt that the Chinese government will reiterate its position in case of need that it will not accept any suit against it by any person in a domestic foreign court.

Last, but not least, the lawsuits fail to be supported even by the domestic law of the U.S. Unlike China, the U.S. adopts the restrictive immunity approach. Pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) of 1976, which provides the sole basis for obtaining jurisdiction on an action against a foreign state, a foreign state shall not be immune from the jurisdiction of courts of the U.S. if the disputed state act relates to commercial activities or constitutes a tort.

However, the alleged act of the Chinese government does not meet either of the exceptions. First, what Chinese authorities have done so far relevant to COVID-19 are the acts of government, rather than acts of a commercial nature. Second, under §1605(a) of FSIA and the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, the tort exception covers only the situation where both tort action and damage occur in the U.S. As the alleged tort of the Chinese government was conducted exclusively in China, the tort exception should not be triggered.

Based on the above analysis, I conclude that the present class actions before the American courts are nothing but a farce in the name of law. As coronavirus knows no borders and does not care about nationalities, what the international community needs now is cooperation and support for each other. If all countries indeed unite, we can beat COVID-19, this invisible and common enemy. However, if some Americans continue to point fingers and play the blame game, we all lose.