In speeches broadcast at this year’s Covid-compromised General Assembly, the presidents of China and the United States punctuated an intensifying schism between the two superpowers.
President Trump assailed China as the coronavirus villain Tuesday in a strongly worded United Nations speech, extolling his own actions in the pandemic and demanding that the global organization hold accountable “the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world.”
Mr. Trump’s speech — made via prerecorded video to a General Assembly that was drastically curtailed because of the pandemic — was followed by a recorded speech from President Xi Jinping of China, who called the coronavirus a crisis shared by everyone. Offering no hint of contrition, Mr. Xi portrayed his nation of 1.4 billion people as having acted responsibly to combat Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
“Any attempt of politicizing the issue or stigmatization must be rejected,” Mr. Xi said. Continue reading.