United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the General Debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on Sept. 22, 2020. (Rick Bajornas/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

Chinese diplomats on Wednesday firmly opposed the  groundless US accusations against China on COVID-19 and environmental issues at the general debate of the UN 75th anniversary General Assembly, urging the US to fulfill its duty and save lives rather than spread a political virus and shifting blame at a multilateral event.

They also pointed out that President Donald Trump is using the UN podium as a stage for "personal political gain," and his speech was so focused on China that it exposed his aim to persuade domestic voters rather than call for any meaningful global actions amid crises. 

"Lies repeated a thousand times are still lies. The US accusations against China are completely baseless and cannot fool anyone," said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN. 

The US noise is incompatible with the general atmosphere of the General Assembly. When the international community is going all out to fight COVID-19, the US is spreading a political virus, Zhang said.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson also pointed out how the Trump administration uses lies to charge China and cover up its own failure to contain the virus. 

Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said US blaming China for the pandemic is its trick to find a scapegoat for its own failure in responding to the virus, which is futile. 

The US also holds an infamous record on the environment, including its unforthcoming attitude in global protocols and agreements on carbon reduction, setting obstacles to global governance on plastics consumption, and role of the world's largest exporter of solid waste, Wang said.

Wang asked, "How is  the US in any position to blame China when it has shipped a huge amount of waste to developing countries and doing enormous harm to the local and global environment?" In his seven-minute speech on Tuesday, Trump used the discriminatory phrase "China virus" again as one of his 11 mentions of China. He did not mention that 200,000 Americans had died from COVID-19, nor did he talk about the international community's dissatisfaction with the US' infamous environmental record. 

The speech shows Trump is now in despair amid an outbreak out of control and the election race, analysts said. But shifting blame will not get back the time lost, or save any lives. 

Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said that using the UN for personal political gain lacks decency, and it is shameless to blame others after messing up a country, making millions of Americans suffer. 

"Major countries should act like major countries," Lü said, citing a line from the Chinese top leader's speech at the general debate. 

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on her personal Twitter account, "At the podium of the UN, the US aims at China while China looks to the world."

 "China has the strategic composure and will shoulder responsibilities, honor promises to the world and cooperate with other countries to tackle with the most urgent task — restart pandemic-haunted economy," Lü told the Global Times on Wednesday.