U.S President, Donald Trump has urged the United Nations (UN), to hold China responsible for unleashing the coronavirus on the world while giving a speech at the annual UN General Assembly in New York.
The speech exacerbated already freezing tensions between China and the United States as both world leaders in pre-recorded speeches railed against each other.
The 2020 UN General Assembly meeting is being held virtually with world leaders expected to provide a 15 minute long pre-recorded speech.
While Trump called on the UN to hold China accountable for the virus, Chinese leader, President Xi Jingpin said he has no intention of starting a cold war with any country, obviously referring to the United States.
Trump accused China of criticizing his travel ban to China in the early days of the virus when the Asian super-power itself locked up its cities due to the coronavirus. He stated that China allowed its citizens to carry the virus around the world while it quarantined whole cities internally.
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The new format adopted by the UN only allowed for one delegate per country to be physically present leaving little room for countries to attack each other on the floor. Despite this limitation however, the Chinese diplomat decried bullying by the United States immediately after Trump’s speech which lasted just seven minutes. He stated that the US President was making baseless accusations.
Excerpts from Trump’s speech read;
“We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague on to the world – China. In the earliest days of the virus China locked down travel domestically, while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. China condemned my travel ban on their country, even as they cancelled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes.”
Speaking almost immediately after Trump, Chinese President, Xi Jingpin warned of the dangers of having a clash of civilisations, referring to the growing cold war between China and the United State.
“We will continue to narrow differences and resolve disputes with others through dialogue and negotiation. We will not seek to develop only ourselves or engage in zero sum game.” The Chinese Supreme Leader said.
Before the UN Summit, Xi Jingpin had accused the United States of trying to dominate world affairs, saying;
“No country has the right to dominate global affairs, control the destiny of others, or keep advantages in development all to itself.”
China itself has been accused of everything it accuses the United States of doing as it bullies south-eastern Asian nations and frequently stokes tension on the South China Sea.
While most almost every country has entered into an economic recession or negative growth due to the effects of the coronavirus, Chinese economy has continued to grow and its export economy has expanded on the back of the production of personal protective equipment and coronavirus testing kits.