At U.N., China, Russia and U.S. clash over pandemic responses

UNITED NATIONS — The United States butted heads Thursday with China and Russia at the United Nations over responsibility for the covid-19 pandemic, trading allegations about who mishandled and politicized the virus in one of the few real-time exchanges among top officials at this year’s covid-distanced General Assembly meeting.

The remarks at the U.N. Security Council’s ministerial meeting on the assembly’s sidelines came just after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried the lack of international cooperation in tackling the still “out-of-control” coronavirus.

The sharp exchanges, at the end of a virtual meeting on “Post covid-19 Global Governance,” reflected the deep divisions among the three veto-wielding council members that have escalated since the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in January.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed the importance of U.N.-centered multilateralism and alluded to countries — including the U.S. — opting out of making a covid-19 vaccine a global public good available to people everywhere.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the pandemic and its “common misfortune did not iron out interstate differences, but to the contrary deepened them.”

The United States’ U.N. ambassador, Kelly Craft, opened her remarks late in the meeting with a blunt rejoinder.

“Shame on each of you. I am astonished and disgusted by the content of today’s discussion,” Craft said. She said some representatives were “squandering this opportunity for political purposes.”

“President Trump has made it very clear: We will do whatever is right, even if it’s unpopular, because, let me tell you what, this is not a popularity contest,” Craft said.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s decision to hide the origins of this virus, minimize its danger, and suppress scientific cooperation (that) transformed a local epidemic into a global pandemic,” Craft said, adding these actions “prove that not all member states are equally committed to public health, transparency, and their international obligations.”

Chinese U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun said, “Abusing the platform of the U.N. and its Security Council, the U.S. has been spreading political virus and disinformation, and creating confrontation and division.”

“The U.S. should understand that its failure in handling covid-19 is totally its fault.”