Trump assails China over virus in UN speech aimed at voters

President Donald Trump assailed China for the coronavirus pandemic in a speech Tuesday to the United Nations General Assembly aimed squarely at U.S. voters, calling on the international body to punish Beijing.

"In the earliest days of the virus, China locked down travel domestically while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world,” Trump said in the speech, which was recorded Monday at the White House. "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.”

"The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions,” Trump said.

Trump has ramped up U.S. tensions with Beijing in recent months in an attempt to portray himself as tougher toward the country’s leaders than his re-election opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, and to deflect blame for the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, the largest in the world.

Biden has accused Trump of turning a blind eye to the virus’s spread from China as he sought to close his so-called "phase one” trade deal with Beijing in January.

More than 200,000 Americans have died of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Most voters give Trump poor marks for his administration’s response to the pandemic, jeopardizing his re-election bid.

The Trump administration has made a number of antagonistic moves toward China in recent months, including sanctioning Chinese officials over their treatment of Muslim minorities, removing special trade benefits enjoyed by Hong Kong, closing a Chinese consulate in Houston, and announcing plans to restrict Chinese visas for journalists and students.

Trump also is seeking to force the spin-off of the U.S. operations of TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned short video app.

Before the U.S. president spoke, Chinese President Xi Jinping took a veiled swipe at the U.S. In a strongly worded speech, Xi said no country should "be allowed to do whatever it likes and be the hegemon, bully or boss of the world.”

Pushing for developing countries to have a greater role in world affairs, Xi said the UN could be "more balanced” and called for the "international order underpinned by international law,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing remarks made at a meeting commemorating the world body’s 75th anniversary. He said countries must not be "lorded over by those who wave a strong fist at others.”

Xi is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly via video link later Tuesday.

Trump’s criticism of China widened in his speech to include the country’s environmental record. The president has drawn international criticism for withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accords negotiated by his predecessor.

"Those who attack America’s exceptional environmental record while ignoring China’s rampant pollution are not interested in the environment,”Trump said. "They only want to punish America. And I will not stand for it.”