Vaccines, origin of the coronavirus and climate change: the themes of Xi Jinping’s speech at the UN General Assembly

In the 76th United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered speech based on his country’s fight against coronavirus pandemic, and the need to redouble our efforts to combat climate change.

“A year and a half has passed and the world is facing unprecedented changes in the wake of the pandemic. The world has risen to the challenges and taken the lead, achieving more development and progress. Humanity will emerge victorious from the pandemic», Affirmed the Chinese president, by means of a recorded message which was reproduced in the hemicycle of the seat of the UNO in New York.

Despite countless complaints from the international community about the handling of the pandemic in China, especially in its early stagesXi Jinping said his country has been concerned about the situation in developing countries from the start. In this sense, he announced that he would allocate 2 billion doses of vaccines by the end of the year. “We will also donate $ 100 million to the covax initiative”, which is managed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The president considered that vaccination “It is one of the main weapons” with those available to the international community to fight the virus, and said countries must “provide a coordinated response, reducing the risk of transmission.”

The Chinese regime, added Xi Jinping, will provide $ 3 billion “to support developing countries in their response to the fight against covid-19”.

While WHO experts denounced that the investigation into the origin of the coronavirus is “paralyzed” and the United States accuses Beijing of “hindering” investigations, the Chinese president said that his country “will continue to advocate a trace of the origins of the virus, based on science”. But he warned: “We are opposed to any political maneuver.

“We must all rise to the challenges that accompany these times, and we must take courageous decisions. We must win the standoff with the pandemic, for the future of humanity, ”added the Chinese president.

In another part of his speech, Xi Jinping called for improving “global environmental governance”, promoting a transition to ecological economies. “We will work to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions.” This, despite the fact that his country is the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases.

“We will support other countries to provide greener energy; this will serve to reduce the construction of high carbon factories, ”he added.

The Chinese president, who initially had no plans to address the UN this year, accused of military interventions and attempts to impose democracy on other countries, in an apparent criticism of the United States, a country he did not name at any point in his speech, despite growing tensions in recent years.

“Recent developments in the international situation have shown once again that the military intervention of outside forces and the supposed democratic transformation are extremely harmful.. China has never invaded or crushed others, nor sought hegemony. He has always called for world peace; it will continue to offer the world new opportunities with its new development, ”he said.

Despite his apparent criticism of the United States, Xi Jinping said so at a time when The Chinese regime is targeted for its growing interference in Hong Kong and other countries in the region which accuse Beijing of promoting excessive expansionism.

A few hours before, US President Joe Biden, had defended on the same stage a “vigorous competition“With China, but he made it clear that he is not looking for“ a new cold war or a world divided into rigid blocks ”.

“The success of one country does not necessarily mean the failure of the other, for the world is fully adapting to the joint growth and progress of all countries.Xi Jinping pointed out. In this line he called for dialogue to “build a new type of international relations” and “true multilateralism” at a time when the world is “at a historic crossroads”.

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