President Donald Trump tore into China in a virtual speech at the UN, blaming the political rival for infecting the world with the coronav...
President Donald Trump tore into China in a virtual speech at the UN, blaming the political rival for infecting the world with the coronavirus.
'We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague unto the world,' Trump said – in a speech delivered by video from the White House, at UN General Assembly meeting that for the first time featured traditional leader speeches delivered remotely.
Trump complained that China 'condemned my travel ban on their country' even as it 'locked citizens in their home' to combat the virus, which scientists discovered in Wuhan in late 2019, in remarks the president said Monday had been prerecorded at the White House.
In this image made from UNTV video, U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at the United Nations headquarters in New York
He also attacked the UN's World Health Organization, which he called 'virtually controlled by China,' and used the phrase 'China virus,' a slur he has been criticized for using in his speeches.
'Seventy-five years after the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations, we are once again engaged in a great global struggle. We have waged a fierce battle against the invisible enemy – the China Virus – which has claimed countless lives in 188 countries,' Trump said.
Trump then used the UN platform – which he previously used to unload on North Korea's Kim Jong-Un before the two men held summit meetings – to attack China's environmental record.
'The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions,' Trump said.
Then, the president broadened his attack to slams on China's environmental record.
He said it ' dumps millions and tons of plastic and trash into the oceans,' over-fishes in 'other countries' waters,' and 'destroys vast swaths of coral reef.'
Back in 2020, Trump used the UN General Assembly to tell other nations: 'only when you take care of your own citizens, will you find a true basis for cooperation.'
In his own remarks, Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro railed against a 'disinformation' campaign about environmental destruction.
'We are victims of one of the most brutal disinformation campaigns about the Amazon and the Pantanal wetlands,' Bolsonaro said. 'The Brazilian Amazon is well known to be very rich. That explains why international institutions support such campaigns based on ulterior interests, joined by self-serving and unpatriotic Brazilian associations, with the objective of harming the government and Brazil itself,' he said in video remarks.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the UN's s first-ever virtual meeting of global leaders Tuesday that the world is facing an 'epochal' health crisis, the biggest economic calamity and job losses since the Great Depression, threats to human rights - and the risk of a new Cold War between the U.S. and China.
In his bleak state of the world speech to the U.N. General Assembly´s annual high-level meeting, the U.N. chief said that the coronavirus that 'brought the world to its knees' was but 'a dress rehearsal for the world of challenges to come.'
He called for global unity, first and foremost to fight the pandemic, and sharply criticized populism and nationalism for failing to contain the virus, and for often making things worse.
Days after the pandemic shut down big parts of the world in March, Guterres called for a global cease-fire to tackle it. On Tuesday, he appealed for a 100-day push by the international community, led by the Security Council, 'to make this a reality by the end of the year.'
'At the same time, we must do everything to avoid a new Cold War,' Guterres added.
Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will all appear by video link at the first ever virtual United Nations General Assembly meeting this week.
In this image made from UNTV video, Kelly Craft, United States ambassador to the United Nations, introduces a pre-recorded speech by U.S. President Donald Trump
Representatives of different countries listen to speakers during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly
The UN virtual event will feature several world leaders making pre-recorded speech, likely to focus greatly on the world-wide coronavirus pandemic.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's speeches are expected to air Tuesday as the U.S. and Brazil have reported the highest and second-highest number respectively of coronavirus deaths.
The coronavirus has inflicted heavy tolls on both countries, close to 200,000 people in the U.S. and over 136,000 in Brazil, according to statistics collected by Johns Hopkins University.
Also on deck are Xi of China, where the virus originated, and Putin of Russia, which has raised international eyebrows with its rapid vaccine development.
After Monday's introductory session marking the U.N.'s 75th anniversary, the meeting's central event - speeches from each of its 193 member nations - start Tuesday. They traditionally serve as a platform for countries to tout accomplishments, seek support, stoke rivalries and express views on global priorities.
Among other world leaders, Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) will also deliver pre-recorded addresses, which are all expected to focus on the global coronavirus pandemic
This year, the platform is online, and there is a pressing new priority in the pandemic that has killed over 960,000 people worldwide.
'When we met in New York a year ago, no one could have imagined that 2020 would arrange such a powerful crash test for our world,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remarked in his video speech for Monday's anniversary commemoration.
By custom, Brazil speaks first and the U.S. second as the host country in the annual meeting's 'general debate,' which is generally less a dialogue than a series of declarations.
Both Bolsonaro and Trump have been at odds, at least at times, with governors and health experts over the pandemic and have emphasized the economic consequences of shutdowns.
Both also are contending with plenty of other issues that command world attention, including Bolsonaro´s plans to develop the Amazon and Trump's 2018 decision to pull the U.S. out of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers. Washington took a further step this weekend with a unilateral, and disputed, declaration that all U.N. penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had been restored, setting up a likely showdown at the assembly - where Iran's speech is also scheduled Tuesday.
So is Turkey's, a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the U.N. has 'flunked during the pandemic.'
The President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (on screen), addresses the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations as it holds it's first ever virtual session
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks in the General Assembly in observance of the International Day of Peace, celebrating 75 Years of the United Nations, at UN headquarters
The virus was first detected in Wuhan, China, late last year. After building field hospitals and imposing a draconian 76-day lockdown to battle the virus there, China has said of late that it is seeing relatively few cases, mostly among people arriving from other countries. China, the world's most populous nation, has reported over 4,700 deaths.
Russia, where the death toll is over 19,000, last month became the first country to approve a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. Russian President Vladimir Putin trumpeted the development, saying one of his adult daughters had already been inoculated. But international health experts have expressed caution about the vaccine´s effectiveness and safety because of the small study sample and other limitations.
A record number of heads of states and governments are due to speak at the virtual meeting, rather than sending ministers or diplomats. That's a good thing, 'but the idea that prime ministers and presidents are going to be sitting at home with a bucket of popcorn watching each other´s televised speeches is a bit silly,' said Richard Gowan, who oversees U.N. issues for Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank.
Still, German U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen sees the assembly as a chance for a global meeting of minds when it's needed more than ever.
'Even in a digital format, UNGA-75 is an opportunity - especially in the face of international conflicts and dramatic challenges such as climate change or COVID-19,' he said.
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