Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway confirmed that China has filed a lawsuit against the state seeking $50 billion, as she moves toward seizing Chinese assets.

In the suit, China declared Missouri an “economic and reputational menace.”

A press release from the Missouri Attorney General’s office stated: “Earlier this year, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office secured a historic $24 billion judgment against the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party, and related entities for unleashing and worsening the COVID-19 pandemic, and Attorney General Hanaway fully intends to collect.”

Five years ago, Missouri sued China for causing and exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic. The state argued that China thwarted the production, purchasing, importing, and exporting of medical equipment.

“I’ve been banned from Communist China, and now I am being sued and targeted by Communist China in a $50 billion lawfare campaign, and I’ll wear it like a badge of honor,” said Schmitt, R-Mo.

“China’s sinister malfeasance during the COVID-19 pandemic led to over a million Americans losing their lives, economic turmoil that rocked our country for years, and an enormous amount of human suffering, and as Missouri Attorney General, I filed suit to hold them accountable,” Schmitt added.

China has also demanded that Missouri officials issue public apologies on several American media and internet platforms.

Hanaway stated the state will continue working to obtain certification necessary to seize Chinese-owned assets, which include real property, financial interests, and other holdings tied to the defendants from overseas.

“I find it extremely telling that the Chinese blame our great state for ‘belittling the social evaluation’ of The Wuhan Institute of Virology. This lawsuit is a stalling tactic and tells me that we have been on the right side of this issue all along,” Hanaway said.

“We stand undeterred in our mission to collect on our $24 billion judgment that was lawfully handed down in federal court,” she added.

Schmitt, who served as Missouri attorney general from 2019 to 2023, stated he will not apologize to China.

The People’s Government of Wuhan Municipality, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology have sued Schmitt for roughly $50 billion, years after he filed suit against China during the pandemic.