US President Donald Trump used the UN General Assembly to attack China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic today, saying it must be held accountable for having "unleashed this plague onto the world".
By contrast, China's President Xi Jinping struck a conciliatory tone in his pre-recorded virtual address to the General Assembly, calling for enhanced cooperation over the pandemic and stressing that 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.
Mr Trump, facing a November re-election battle while the United States deals with the world's highest official number of deaths and infections from the coronavirus, focused his speech on attacking China.
He accused Beijing of allowing people to leave China in the early stages of the outbreak to infect the world while shutting down domestic travel.
"We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world, China," he said in remarks recorded yesterday and delivered remotely to the General Assembly today due to the pandemic.
"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...the United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions."
The president promised to distribute a vaccine and said: "We will defeat the virus, and we will end the pandemic."
In introducing Mr Xi's remarks, China's UN ambassador Zhang Jun said China "resolutely rejects the baseless accusations against China".
"The world is at a crossroads. At this moment, the world needs more solidarity and cooperation, but not confrontation."
Mr Xi's address contained what appeared to be an implicit rebuke to Mr Trump, calling for a global response to the coronavirus and a leading role for the World Health Organization, which the US president has announced plans to leave.
"Facing the virus, we should enhance solidarity and get through this together," he said.
"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. Any attempt of politicising the issue, or stigmatisation, must be rejected."
The WHO later rejected Mr Trump's remarks.
"No one gov't controls us," its communications director Gabby Stern said in a tweet, adding: "On Jan. 14 our #COVID19 technical lead told media of the potential for human-to-human transmission. Since February, our experts have publicly discussed transmission by people without symptoms or prior to symptoms."
China has portrayed itself as the chief cheerleader for multilateralism at a time when Mr Trump's disregard for international cooperation has led to Washington quitting global deals on climate and Iran and leaving the UN Human Rights Council, as well as the WHO.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the world to prevent a Cold War between the United States and China and halt conflicts so it can focus on the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We must do everything to avoid a new Cold War," Mr Guterres said in an address as he opened an almost entirely virtual UN General Assembly.
"We are moving in a very dangerous direction. Our world cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a Great Fracture - each with its own trade and financial rules and internet and artificial intelligence capacities," he said, without saying the United States and China by name.
Russia creates 'world's first coronavirus vaccine'
Russia's president Vladimir Putin told the United Nations of his country's creation of the world's first coronavirus vaccine, though it has not completed large-scale clinical trials.
President Putin in a video address to the General Assembly said that Russia was open to partnership with other countries over "the first vaccine in the world, Sputnik V".
The Sputnik V vaccine was developed by Moscow's Gamaleya research centre, and Russia announced in August that it was the world's first registered vaccine.
While the vaccine has shown promising results in early trials, Russia has not yet completed the final phase of clinical testing, in which large numbers of people receive either the vaccine or a placebo.
Nevertheless Russia has already vaccinated high-profile officials including the Defence Ministry Sergei Shoigu and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. President Putin has said that one of his daughters was vaccinated, suffering only a mild reaction.
Brazil the target of 'brutal', 'shady' campaign
Meanwhile, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro opened the UN General Assembly by downplaying the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and claiming Brazil was the target of a "brutal" and "shady" international campaign to discredit it.
"We are victims of a most brutal disinformation campaign about the Amazon and the Brazilian wetlands. The Brazilian Amazon is known to be immensely rich.
"That explains the support given by international institutions to this campaign anchored on shady interests," he said in a video address to the annual assembly in New York.
In his address to the Assembly, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for "sincere" dialogue to settle the growing row with Greece over Ankara's energy search in the eastern Mediterranean, rejecting "harassment".
"Our priority is to settle disputes with sincere dialogue, based on international law and on an equitable basis," Mr Erdogan said via video-conference.
"However, I would like to clearly state that we will never tolerate any imposition, harassment, or attack in the opposite direction."
