(Newswire.net— September 25, 2020) — China, the United States, and Russia clashed on the third day of the United Nations session over shifting the blame for the coronavirus pandemic and who “abused and politicized” the virus, AP reports.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was the first to speak, stressed the importance of multilateralism.
“In such a challenging moment, major countries are even more duty-bound to put the future of humankind first, discard the Cold War mentality and ideological bias and come together in the spirit of partnership to tide over the difficulties,” Wang said.
He said that it is necessary to oppose sanctions in order to “protect the authority and sanctity of the International law”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the pandemic and “the accident it brings” did not correct the interstate differences, but, on the contrary, deepened them. “
“In a whole number of countries there is a temptation to look abroad for those who are responsible for their own internal problems,” Lavrov said. “And we see attempts on the part of individual countries to use the current situation in order to move forward their narrow interests of the moment in order to settle the score with the undesirable governments or geopolitical competitors.”
At the end of the meeting, the American ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, said that she was astonished and that some officials used this opportunity for their own political purposes.
“Shame on each of you. I am astonished and disgusted by the content of today’s discussion,” Craft said. She said some representatives were “squandering this opportunity for political purposes.”
Craft quoted President Trump who said “We will do whatever is right, even if it’s unpopular, because, let me tell you what, this is not a popularity contest,” said Craft.”
She added that “the decision of the Chinese Communist Party to hide the origin of the virus, reduce its danger and suppress scientific cooperation” transformed the local epidemic into a global pandemic.
Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zang Yun asked to speak at the end of the meeting and said that “China strongly opposes and rejects unfounded accusations by the United States.”
“Abusing the platform of the U.N. and its Security Council, the U.S. has been spreading political virus and disinformation, and creating confrontation and division,” Zhang said.
He also added that The U.S. should understand that its failure in the handling of COVID-19 is totally its own fault, accusing the US of “spreading a political virus”.