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)

China on Wednesday blasted the US for using the UN platform to smear and attack China for serving its own political agenda, saying that it proves again unilateralism and US hegemony are the most serious threat to the world. The response came after the US leader made groundless accusations against China at the general debate of the UN 75th anniversary assembly on Tuesday.   

  "We urge the US to stop playing political games, cast aside its unilateral mentality and live up to its due responsibility to the world," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday. 

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, also said, "The US noise is incompatible with the general atmosphere of the General Assembly."

In his seven-minute filmed speech, US President Donald Trump mentioned China 11 times, all of which featured attacks and groundless accusations. 

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."

Zhang said, "Lies repeated a thousand times are still lies. The US accusations against China are completely baseless and cannot fool anyone."

The timelines have made it clear that China was the first to be hit by the outbreak of COVID-19. China made great efforts and enormous sacrifices in response, and managed to bring the situation under control within a short period of time. When China locked down Wuhan, there were only nine cases identified outside China and one in the US. The US cut direct flights with China on January 31 and closed its borders to Chinese nationals on February 2.

Blaming China for the pandemic is the US' trick of finding a scapegoat for its own failure in responding to the virus, which is totally futile. 

The US arbitrarily attacked and pulled out of the World Health Organization and jeopardized international cooperation in fighting the pandemic at the cost of its own citizens and people around the world, Wang said.

"What the US should do is to stop politicizing the virus and cooperate with the international community rather than shun its responsibilities and blame others," Wang said. 

 While the international community is going all out to fight COVID-19, the US is spreading a political virus. When the international community needs solidarity and cooperation the most, the US is abusing the platform of the United Nations to provoke confrontation and create division. When the international community needs a strong UN, the US is weakening the UN, the WHO and other UN bodies, and undermining the authority and effectiveness of the UN, Zhang emphasized. 

As for climate issues, both Wang and Zhang emphasized China's commitment and achievements in cutting carbon emissions. In contrast, the US has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol and has pulled out of the Paris Agreement. It has also dissociated itself from the global system and arrangement of carbon emissions, not to mention the fact that it is the largest exporter of solid waste and a major country in terms of per capita plastic consumption. It is clear who willfully disregards the global environment and the health of people around the world, Zhang said.

On the US' environmental record, 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?"

The US confrontation at the UN for its own interests is unpopular and doomed to fail. Its most urgent task is to contain the virus, save lives, and fix its own problems. Some US politicians' attempt to shift the blame will not get back the time lost or solve any of its problems. It is time that they woke up from their self-created illusions and fiction, Zhang noted. 

Global Times