China’s #MeToo courtroom second

In the U.S. This week, a prominent tech billionaire becomes one of the few high-profile Chinese figures to face a courtroom jury over sexual attack allegations.
Jury selection starts nowadays in Minnesota in a civil trial of Liu Qiangdong, known as Richard Liu within the English-talking world. A young lady named Liu Jingyao has accused Mr. Liu of raping her after a 2018 dinner for Chinese executives that she attended as a University of Minnesota volunteer.
Mr. Liu, the founder of JD.Com, e-trade large in China, has denied the allegations and says the come upon changed into consensual.
The trial is considerable for the reality that it's miles taking place at all. In China, in which such accusations hardly ever make it to trial, the ruling Communist Party has, again and again, quashed the USA's small but lively #MeToo motion.
Context: The trial, which has riveted China, comes at an exceedingly sensitive time for us of a’s pinnacle chief, Xi Jinping. He is anticipated to take an unheard-of 1/3 term subsequent month. According to court docket files, several people with ties to China’s enterprise and political elite also attended the dinner.
Details: Local prosecutors declined to rate Mr. Liu with the sexual attack in 2018, saying it became noticeably not likely that a criminal fee might be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Ms. Liu, who has persisted in a barrage of attacks on Chinese social media, is searching for at least $50,000 in damages via the civil court docket system, wherein a load of evidence is decreased.