Noah Feldman, Columnist

Gap in U.S. Law Helps Chinese Companies, for Now

Foreign governments can't be sued in U.S. courts. China's state-owned enterprises claim they can't either.

May 15, 2016 at 10:00 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Be careful what you wish for.
Photographer: WANG ZHAO/AFP/Getty Images

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Foreign governments can't be sued in U.S. courts. Foreign companies can. What happens when China's state-owned companies claim to be part of the government?

Nobody knows because the law is confusing, but some U.S. courts are taking the Chinese claim seriously. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act isn't well drawn to address the complex situation of Chinese companies and their relation to the government entities that control them.