September 22, 2020

US President Donald Trump used the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday to attack China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it must be held accountable for having “unleashed this plague onto the world”.

China, meanwhile, accused Trump of spreading a “political virus” at the United Nations with President Xi Jinping calling for enhanced cooperation over COVID-19 and stressing China had no intention of fighting “either a cold war or a hot war with any country”.

The leaders of the world’s two largest economies laid out their competing visions as relations have plunged to their worst level in decades against the backdrop of the pandemic, with coronavirus tensions aggravating trade and technology disputes.

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