WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Donald Trump gave a prerecorded address as part of the 75th annual United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
In his speech to the virtual gathering, Trump asked the U.N. to hold China “accountable” for failing to contain COVID-19, as the number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. surpassed 200,000.
Trump accused China of not sharing timely information on the virus with other world leaders.
“The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions,” the president said.
The administration has criticized the Chinese Communist Party for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, election meddling and espionage in the United States.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that Beijing has “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 and negotiation. We will not seek to develop only ourselves or engage in zero-sum game,” Xi said.
Trump’s speech comes a day after he declared that all U.N. sanctions against Iran have been reimposed. The majority of U.N. Security Council members reject the move, questioning whether the U.S. has the legal standing to restore the sanctions because Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden has signaled that he would rejoin the deal if he’s elected. But the former vice president also said he wants to negotiate tougher terms and expand the agreement’s mandate to include non-nuclear matters.
Trump also highlighted agreements the U.S. brokered between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as one between Kosovo and Serbia.
World leaders sent videos instead of physically gathering at the United Nations in New York due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the opening speech, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world is facing an “epochal” health crisis. He also noted the biggest economic calamity and job losses since the Great Depression, dangerous threats to human rights — and the threat of a new Cold War between the U.S. and China.