Trump accuses Beijing of unleashing 'plague'

The WHO rejected Trump’s remarks.

“No one gov’t controls us,” its communications director, Gabby Stern tweeted, adding: “On Jan. 14 our #COVID19 technical lead told media of the potential for human-to-human transmission. Since February, our experts have publicly discussed transmission by people without symptoms or prior to symptoms.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the General Assembly the WHO should be strengthened to coordinate the global response to the pandemic and proposed a high-level conference on vaccine cooperation.

China has portrayed itself as the chief cheerleader for multilateralism at a time when Trump’s disregard for international cooperation has led him to quit global deals on climate and Iran, as well as the U.N. Human Rights Council and the WHO.

Xi took an apparent swipe at Trump’s “America First” policy in a statement on Monday to a meeting celebrating the U.N.’s 75th anniversary.

“No country has the right to dominate global affairs, control the destiny of others, or keep advantages in development all to itself. Even less should one be allowed to do whatever it likes and be the hegemon, bully or boss of the world. Unilateralism is a dead end,” he said.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll surpassed 200,000 on Monday, by far the highest official number of any country.Trump also attacked China’s record on the environment, but leveled no direct criticism at Beijing over human rights.

Trump, a frequent critic of the U.N., said that if it was to be effective, it must focus on “the real problems of the world” like “terrorism, the oppression of women, forced labor, drug trafficking, human and sex trafficking, religious persecution, and the ethnic cleansing of religious minorities.”

In his U.N. address, French President Emmanuel Macron called for an international mission under U.N. auspices to visit China’s Xinjiang region to look into concerns about alleged abuses of Muslims there.

China’s envoy Zhang Jun issued a statement in response to Trump’s remarks, accusing the United States of “abusing the platform of the United Nations to provoke confrontation and create division.”

In his speech, Xi announced plans to boost China’s Paris climate accord target and called for a green revolution, just minutes after Trump blasted China for “rampant pollution.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world was “moving in a very dangerous direction” with