In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump observed that the world is engaged in a great global struggle: “We have waged a fierce battle against the invisible enemy – the China virus – which has claimed countless lives in 188 countries.”
The United States has launched an aggressive mobilization to fight COVID-19, including producing a surplus of ventilators that could be shared with nations in need and effective therapeutics. Even now, three vaccines are in the final stage of clinical trials, said President Trump:
“We will distribute a vaccine, we will defeat the virus, we will end the pandemic, and we will enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity, cooperation, and peace.”
At the same time, China’s leaders must be held accountable for their actions, declared President Trump:
“In the earliest days of the virus, China locked down travel domestically while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. . . .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.”
President Trump also urged the United Nations to hold China accountable for its environmental abuses:
“Every 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. China’s carbon emissions are nearly twice what the U.S. has, and it’s rising fast.”
If the United Nations is to be an effective organization, said President Trump, “it must focus on the real problems of the world. This includes terrorism, the oppression of women, forced labor, drug trafficking, human and sex trafficking, religious persecution, and the ethnic cleansing of religious minorities.”
