MCCAUGHEY: Will China ever be held accountable for COVID-19?

Published Jun 26, 2026  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  4 minute read

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) poses for photos with China's President Xi Jinping during a visit to Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing on May 15, 2026. Photo by EVAN VUCCI /POOL/AFP via Getty Images

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Kudos to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and Sen. Rand Paul for persevering in holding Dr. Anthony Fauci’s feet to the fire. Fauci allegedly covered up the origins of COVID-19 as 1.1 million Americans died from the virus.

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But what about the biggest culprit — China?

For seven weeks or more, starting in the winter of 2019, Chinese officials violated their international commitments and ethical obligations to prevent a domestic epidemic from becoming a global pandemic.

They muzzled and even jailed Chinese doctors and journalists, allowed international flights to carry infected passengers to countries around the globe, and withheld information on the virus’s human-to-human transmission and its genomic sequence.

Back in 2020, Trump insisted that the nation that “unleashed this plague on the world” should have to pay. He said nothing should be off the table: Taxes, tariffs or a “global summit on reparations.”

Trump initially talked tough on China

During his re-election campaign, Trump floated the idea of forcing China to pay $50 trillion in compensation. Yet now these plans have disappeared from the national dialogue. American CEOs are gladhanding with Chinese officials and American universities are welcoming Chinese students and Chinese grant money.

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Even Trump is proceeding gingerly, apparently worried about complicating dealings with Beijing by bringing up COVID-19 recriminations. No one is calling for justice for our grandparents, spouses and friends killed by COVID-19.

That’s unacceptable.

Granted, many of the ways to make China “pay” — suggested in the immediate aftermath of the carnage — turn out to be impractical. For example, withholding principal or interest payments on the whopping $1.07 trillion in U.S. Treasury debt held by China — a proposal made by Hoover Institution researchers — would rattle global confidence in the safety of U.S. debt. Envision U.S. borrowing costs spiking as a result, and America losing more than it gains.

What about taking China to court?

Taking China to court in the U.S. and suing for damages has proved to be a two-edged sword. Foreign countries are immune from most lawsuits in the U.S., but even when they can be sued on certain narrow grounds, it turns out to be virtually impossible to collect actual monetary damages. Eric Schmitt, former attorney general of Missouri, sued China in 2020 for worsening the COVID-19 crisis in his state by withholding gowns, masks and other hospital equipment from export to the U.S. China refused to respond, and a federal judge awarded Missouri a $24 billion default judgment. But how to collect?

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Missouri considered seizing Chinese assets in the U.S., but assets of foreign governments in the U.S. are generally shielded from seizure, just as U.S. government property is protected in other countries. If the U.S. government were to allow Missouri to seize Chinese assets here, warns international law expert Chimene Keitner, it could expose American assets in China to confiscation. China made it clear what it thought of the lawsuit. It returned favour, suing Schmitt and the state of Missouri for $50 billion for damaging the reputation of China and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That’s laughable, as if no one considered China a bad actor until Missouri made its claims.

Keitner called the duelling lawsuits “unhelpful political theatre.”

It was good politics for Schmitt, now a U.S. senator. “I’ve been banned from Communist China, and now I am being sued and targeted in a $50 Billion lawfare campaign, and I’ll wear it like a badge of honour,” he said in a statement.

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Multinational organizations — the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the International Court of Justice — have proven useless. The WHO capitulated to China’s unwillingness to allow international investigators to search for the virus’s origins. The UN Security Council is paralyzed by China’s permanent status as a veto-wielding member. And the International Court of Justice, which is empowered by the WHO to settle disputes arising from health matters, has no authority if China refuses to accept its verdict.

As for China, it shows no remorse

Meanwhile, China continues to admit no responsibility, shows no remorse and continues to hunt down Chinese scientists and journalists who dispute the Chinese Communist Party’s official claim that the virus originated outside China.

On May 15, Trump concluded a state visit with Xi Jinping, saying on Air Force One as it lifted off through the haze of Beijing airport that “the relationship is a very strong one.” Trump stressed new business opportunities, such as opening China’s market to American farm goods. There was no mention of unfinished business — the 1.1 million American deaths and the families still mourning their losses.

Is Trump’s idea of a global summit on reparations with real teeth in the rearview mirror, or will he use his political capital to get an apology and justice for the victims of the Chinese virus? That question is for you, Mr. President.

Millions dead, billions of dollars in economic value lost. Nailing Fauci is hardly enough.

— Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant-governor of New York State

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