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During the General Assembly, which was held almost virtually this year on the coronavirus, Trump delivered a speech that was entirely in line with the spirit of his election campaign and even used the phrase “Chinese virus.”
“We must bring to justice the country that launched this contagion to the world, China,” Trump said in a prerecorded speech to the General Assembly, where each country can only be represented by one delegate in New York this year.
Trump, after pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, has attacked China for its carbon and plastic emissions.
“For those who attack America’s exceptional ecological performance but ignore China’s uncontrolled pollution, the environment doesn’t care. They just want to punish the United States. And I will not support it, ”said the American leader.
Trump also again criticized China’s role in the COVID-19 coronavirus infection pandemic, accusing Beijing of allowing the coronavirus, first detected in China’s Wuhan late last year, “to leave China and infect the world”.
“The Chinese government and the World Health Organization, which is effectively controlled by China, have wrongly stated that there is no evidence that [virusas] it would be transmitted to man, ”Trump said, referring to the first WHO reports, which were later updated.
Trump has already declared that his country is withdrawing from the WHO.
The contribution of the United States represented the largest part of the budget of this United Nations agency.
Critics say Trump is trying to blame him for his handling of COVID-19 in the United States, where more than 200,000 have already died from the infection. more people than in any other country.
His rival in the November 3 elections, Democrat Joe Biden, has promised that the United States will remain with the WHO in the event of his victory.
The great rift
World leaders were asked to send videos of their speeches a few days before the UN General Assembly to avoid technical problems, so Chinese President Xi Jinping could not spontaneously retaliate with Trump if he so desired.
However, China’s ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun, in his presentation of Xi Jinping’s speech, said that Beijing “rejects [D. Trumpo] unsubstantiated accusations ”.
“While the international community really struggles with COVID-19, the United States is spreading the political virus here in the General Assembly,” the diplomat told reporters a bit later.
In his relatively calm speech, the Chinese president warned the world not to “politicize” the fight against the coronavirus.
Xi Jinping said China will allocate another 15 million. USD (12.8 million) to the UN Coronavir Fund.
“China has no intention of getting involved in the Cold War,” he said in a speech, urging the world to avoid “falling into the trap of a clash of civilizations.”
Guterres, for his part, called on the world to avoid a Cold War between the United States and China and to end the conflicts so that the focus can be on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We must do everything possible to prevent the Cold War,” Guterres said at the start of the annual UN General Assembly.
“It just came to our notice then.” Our world cannot afford a future in which the two largest economies bring about the Great Depression in the world, each with its own trade and financial rules and the Internet and artificial intelligence capabilities. ” said the UN chief, without directly mentioning the United States and China.
Tensions in US-China relations have escalated in recent months as the US president blames Beijing for the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed an estimated 950,000 lives. lives around the world and obscured his aspiration to be re-elected president.
“Populism and nationalism collapsed”
Guterres also called for an end to the armed conflict and a concerted effort to combat the coronavirus.
He noted the progress already made, including a ceasefire in Colombia and Cameroon.
The UN chief has called for a ceasefire in conflicts around the world by the end of the year.
Guterres also openly criticized right-wing movements in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Populism and nationalism have collapsed.” These approaches to curbing the virus have often made things worse, “he said.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaru, who himself was infected with the coronavirus, accused the Brazilian media of panic in his speech.
In his speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the safety of his country’s COVID-19 vaccine, although Western experts were extremely skeptical about it.
The Kremlin host called for the vaccine to be available to everyone and offered a free vaccination for UN staff.
Putin also proposed holding a high-level web conference to collaborate on a coronavirus vaccine.
In his speech, he also called for the clearing of global trade barriers and “illegal sanctions” and spoke of a possible agreement not to allow the deployment of weapons in space.
In a typical year, about 10,000 people attend the UN General Assembly. people around the world, but this is unthinkable at a time when countries have introduced strict travel requirements aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.
With no face-to-face meetings or exchanges of views, some UN diplomats wonder what can be achieved this year.
However, the UN is holding thematic meetings, also virtual, on the sidelines of this summit on important issues such as the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, biodiversity, political unrest in Libya and Lebanon.
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