Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country has “no intention” of fighting a new Cold War after a confrontational United Nations speech by President Trump blasting Beijing for the coronavirus pandemic.
Xi, who is facing fierce U.S. scrutiny over how his country handled its response to the virus, told the 75th gathering of the assembly Tuesday that his country wants to help the world recover and has no intention of global dominance.
“We will never seek hegemony, expansion, or sphere of influence,” Xi said. “We have no intention to fight either a Cold War or a hot one with any country. We will continue to narrow differences and resolve disputes with others through dialogue.”
“China will continue to work as a builder of global peace,” the Chinese leader added.
Xi emphasized his belief that no single country will prevail over the virus alone and said that “humanity will win this battle.” He also touted the World Health Organization, which Trump trashed just minutes before as being “virtually controlled” by the Chinese government. Trump has also vowed to pull the United States from the WHO.
“Facing the virus, we should enhance solidarity and get through this together. We should follow the guidance of science, give full play to the leading role of the World Health Organization, and launch a joint international response to beat this pandemic,” Xi said. “Any attempt of politicizing the issue or stigmatization must be rejected.”
“No country can gain from others’ difficulties or maintain stability by taking advantage of others’ troubles,” he added.
Trump’s speech to the U.N. was notably shorter than Xi’s and laid out an “America First” vision that stood in direct contrast to Xi, who called globalization an “indisputable reality” and warned countries against “burying one’s head in the sand like an ostrich.”
Trump referred to the coronavirus as the “China virus” during his speech, which was brief and fell short of the 15-minute allotment for the prerecorded addresses.
“The Chinese government, and the World Health Organization, which is virtually controlled by China, falsely declared that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission,” Trump said of China’s reaction at the outset of the pandemic.
“Later, they falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease,” he continued. “The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions.”
While China has largely quelled the spread of the virus domestically through stringent and authoritarian health measures, there have been more than 31 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with a death toll approaching 1 million.
