China, US Clash At UN General Assembly Over COVID-19

The United States and China, on Tuesday, engaged in war of words over the COVID-19 pandemic at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

President Donald Trump, in his pre-recorded video message, referred to coronavirus as “China virus”

Trump maintained that China and the World Health Organisation (WHO) deliberately lied to the rest of the world on COVID-19 mode of transmission.

“We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto 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.”

He noted that China was vocal decrying his travel ban on their country, but cancelled domestic flights and locked citizens at homes.

He accused UN and China of “falsely” declaring that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

“Later, they falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease. The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions,” Trump reiterated.

Responding, Chinese ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, declared that China would not be intimidated by America’s “bully tactics.”

The envoy accused Trump of using the UNGA General Debate to spread his “political virus.”.

“We strongly and totally reject the baseless accusation against China. No matter what others say, we support multilateralism and the UN to play its central role in international affairs,” Jun said.

In his remarks earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, observed the escalating tensions between the world powers.

The UN chief called it a “new Cold War” that was moving the world in a dangerous direction.

“Our world cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a Great Fracture, each with its own trade and financial rules and internet and artificial intelligence capacities”, Guterres said.