UN General Assembly: Trump relaunches attacks on China
Donald Trump, here in Kenosha, Wisconsin, September 1, 2020. Leah Millis / Reuters
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The United States and China engaged this Tuesday, September 22 in a new pass of arms within the framework of the 75th General Assembly of the United Nations.
Donald Trump attacked Beijing head-on, on the theme of the coronavirus pandemic in particular.
His Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, campaigned for more cooperation and less confrontation.
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There were no leaders in the lobby of the
UN General Assembly on
Tuesday, September 22.
Due to coronavirus, the speeches were pre-recorded and broadcast on screens.
However, this framework did not prevent
Donald Trump from attacking China
, once again and as expected.
A third of its intervention was directed against Beijing: pollution, ethnic cleansing, trade, and of course the Covid-19 and the management of the pandemic ... Everything is there.
The President of the United States has brought back to the table the big point of controversy which blocked the Security Council for 100 days at the UN:
its rhetoric on the "Chinese virus"
.
“
Seventy-five years after the end of World War II and the creation of the United Nations, we once again face a great global challenge.
We have fought a fierce battle against an invisible enemy: the Chinese virus
, ”said Donald Trump.
The Head of State has put the Sino-American duel back at the heart of global geopolitical debates, while withdrawing a little more from the UN and a multilateral world, relates our correspondent in New York,
Carrie Nooten
.
The Coué method, American version
Campaigning for his re-election, the American president also took advantage of the UN platform to make people forget the virulent criticisms aimed at his
management of the coronavirus epidemic in
the United States.
"
We will
distribute the vaccine
, we will defeat the virus, end the pandemic, and we will enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity
," he pledged.
► To listen again: United States: revelations on what Trump knew about the coronavirus as early as February
And in front of this institution symbol of multilateralism, the American president confirmed once again that his diplomatic vision would not change if he was re-elected in November: “
I proudly put America first.
Just as you will have to prioritize your countries!
"
Xi calls for "more solidarity and cooperation"
By chance of the draw, the intervention of the Chinese president was scheduled a few minutes later.
And the contrast was stark.
Xi Jinping took the opportunity to occupy the place he had to suspect that his American counterpart would leave vacant: he called for a global and concerted battle against the pandemic, and literally posed himself as the champion of multilateralism.
“
The world is at a real turning point.
He must count on more solidarity and cooperation, and not on more confrontation,
”said Xi Jinping, who announced budget extensions at the UN of several hundred million dollars.
A windfall that the organization sorely needs, and this while the United States is cutting budgets to its agencies.
Diplomats accustomed to Beijing's methods know that this will above all allow it to establish an influential position within world diplomacy.
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