Biden and Xi address UN, juggling differences amid calls for unity on climate and Covid-19
- In first address to General Assembly, US president says he ‘is ready to work with any nation that steps up and pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges’
- ‘We need to advocate peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, which are the common values of humanity,’ Chinese president tells the UN
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US ‘not seeking a new cold war’, Biden says in first UN address
“The authoritarianism of the world may seek to proclaim the end of the age of democracy, but they’re wrong,“ Biden said in a half-hour speech delivered at the UN headquarters in New York. “The truth is, the democratic world is everywhere. It lives in the anti-corruption activists, the human rights defenders, the journalists.”
In a pre-recorded speech delivered by video link several hours later, Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted the need for inclusive growth, mutual solidarity and better global governance based on equality. Xi proposed a Global Development Initiative to that end without providing details.
“Democracy is not a special right reserved for any individual country. Recent developments in the international situation show once again that military intervention from the outside and so-called democratic transformation entail nothing but harm,” Xi said, seated behind a desk in front of a picture of the Great Wall.
“We need to advocate peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, which are the common values of humanity, and reject the practice of forming small circles or zero-sum gains.”
