China is livid over President Trump’s speech to United Nations General Assembly, in which he demanded the communist country be held “accountable” for having “unleashed this plague onto the world.”
He reminded member nations that China knew what it was doing, spreading the virus around the globe, by the fact that it locked down domestic travel but still allowed flights to leave the country.
“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,” he said. “Later, they falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease.”
China called the accusations “groundless” and said it was the United States that was spreading a “political virus.”
“When the international community is going all out to fight COVID-19, the United States is spreading a political virus,” Ambassador Zhang Jun said in a statement, adding that the U.S. was taking advantage of its UN platform to “provoke confrontation and create division.”
“China’s important contribution to the global fight against the pandemic is highly recognized and commended by the international community, a fact that no one can deny,” he added. "If we do have to hold anybody accountable, it should be the United States held accountable for losing so many lives with their irresponsible behaviors."
While the president called on the United Nations to hold China accountable for the pandemic, he also pointed to the PRC’s terrible environmental record.
“[E]very year, China dumps millions and millions of tons of plastic and trash into the oceans, overfishes other countries’ waters, destroys vast swaths of coral reef, and emits more toxic mercury into the atmosphere than any country anywhere in the world,” Trump continued. “China’s carbon emissions are nearly twice what the U.S. has, and it’s rising fast.”
China, in turn, pointed to the U.S. not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and pulling out of the Paris Agreement.
“It is clear who willfully disregards the global environment and the health of people around the world," the envoy said.
Trump argued those who ignore China’s “rampant pollution” while criticizing America’s “exceptional environmental record…only want to punish America.”
“I will not stand for it,” he added.
Trump blasts China for the #Covid19 pandemic in a pre-recorded speech to the UN’s General Assembly.
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) September 22, 2020
The U.S. President also called on the international body to hold China accountable pic.twitter.com/S6638vODyg