The state of Missouri is swiftly moving to seize farmland and other assets owned by the Chinese government after emerging victorious in a landmark lawsuit.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey told Just the News that the seizure is part of Missouri’s effort to collect a $24 billion civil judgment against the Chinese government after suing it for the harm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During an appearance on “John Solomon Reports,” Bailey said the state “will start to identify and begin going to court to have court orders issued to seize those assets to make good on that judgment.”
Movement to ban Chinese farmland purchases near military bases gains steam in the Senate
— Indo-Pacific News - Geo-Politics & Defense (@IndoPac_Info) March 11, 2025
China owned around 350,000 acres of farmland across 27 states as of last year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
As of 2022, foreign entities and individuals held… pic.twitter.com/SLUVnWJ3oT
The court’s ruling resulted from Missouri’s lawsuit against the People’s Republican of China and other defendants, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The court found that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) concealed the severity of the coronavirus by engaging int “a deliberate campaign to suppress information about the COVID-19 pandemic in order to support its campaign to hoard PPE from Missouri and an unsuspecting world.”
Since representatives from the Chinese government did not appear in court, Missouri was awarded over $24 billion. The ruling describes the CCP’s conduct as “classic anticompetitive behavior, except on a country-wide scale,” which allowed Beijing to control supply, inflate prices, and purposefully maintain shortages.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. noted that the CCP “was misleading the world about the dangers and scope of the Covid-19 pandemic” and that the state “has suffered significant harm in the form of lost net general tax revenue.”
The CCP said it would refuse to honor the judgment. Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told The New York Times that the lawsuit “has no basis in fact, law or international precedence” and that “China does not and will not accept it.”
He further stated that if the CCP’s interests are harmed, it would “firmly take reciprocal countermeasures according to international law.”
Several other states have banned, or are considering banning, Chinese ownership of farmland in America due to concerns over national security. These include South Dakota, Virginia, North Carolina, and others.
Florida, in particular, passed legislation barring the CCP and citizens of Russia, Iran, and North Korea from purchasing farmland or property near military installations and critical infrastructure unless they are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
Thankfully, @GovRonDeSantis has BANNED Communist China from owning farmland in the Free State of Florida.
— Jay Collins (@JayCollinsFL) February 20, 2025
Now it is time that EVERY American supports @POTUS plan to ban it nation-wide! pic.twitter.com/iHrhjS6sls
Sen. Eric Schmidt, Missouri’s previous attorney general who originally filed the lawsuit, celebrated the judge’s ruling in a post on X. “Just call us the Show Me (the money) state,” he wrote.
🚨BREAKING: When I was AG in Missouri I sued China for unleashing Covid on the world
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) March 7, 2025
My successor & friend @AGAndrewBailey continued the work & today the court awarded Missouri $24+ Billion in damages
Missouri can now seize assets
Just call us the Show Me (the money) state.
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