World leaders didn’t ​physically travel to New York, for the United Nations General Assembly. This year, the gathering is virtual, because of the pandemic.

They sent pre-record messages, played out at the General Assembly hall. China’s President Xi Jinping used his address to highlight the need for renewed multilateralism in the wake of COVID-19.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump made a speech with a different tone: pointing a finger at China over COVID-19 and saying countries should always put themselves first.

CGTN’s Nathan King reports.

Follow Nathan King on Twitter@nathanking 

To discuss:

• Robert Hormats is the managing director at Tiedemann Advisors and ​a former U.S. Under Secretary of State.
• Thomas G. Weiss is a professor of political science at City University of New York’s Graduate Center and author of the book “Would the World Be Better Without the UN?”
• Klaus Larres is a professor of history and international affairs at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
• Einar Tangen is a current affairs commentator.

For more:

Chinese President Xi Jinping gives robust defence of China's ambitions in speech to UNhttps://t.co/29gCPKSId2

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 22, 2020

President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping offered sharply differing views of the world in speeches to the United Nations General Assembly, punctuating the growing schism between the United States and China.  https://t.co/NS5j4vbgQ7

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) September 23, 2020