Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden placed COVID, climate change and China in the forefront as he spoke to the United Nations.
In his first address to the U.N. as president, Biden sought to garner more cooperation in the global response to the pandemic and environmental issues and to assuage concerns about growing animosity between the U.S. and China.
“We are not seeking the new Cold War, or the world divided into rigid blocks,” he said. “The United States is ready to work with any nation that steps up, that pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges, even if we have intense disagreement to shared challenges, because we will all suffer the consequences of our failures if we don’t come together to tackle COVID-19, climate change or threats like nuclear proliferation.”
He later added, “Ending the pandemic and making sure we’re better prepared for the next one, staving off climate change, ensuring a future where technology is a vital tool to solving human challenges, not a source of greater strife and repression.”
The president’s address came just a week after the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia announced a new Indo-Pacific agreement that was met with a stern rebuke from both China and France, an issue Biden did not address in this speech.
The president also spoke sternly, albeit without specificity, about nations with poor human rights track records.
“The future will belong to those who embrace human dignity, not trample it,” he said, “the future will belong to those who unleash the potential of their people, not those who stifle it; the future will belong to those who give their people the ability to breathe free, not those who seek to suffocate with an iron hand,”
However, President Biden focused his remarks more on his message of “building back better”, the strengthening of U.S. diplomacy, and the end of the Unites States’ war in Afghanistan.
“As we look ahead, we will lead on all of the greatest challenges of our time, but we will not go it alone,” he said. “We will lead together with our allies and partners, with all who choose and believe as we do, that this is within our power to meet challenges, build a future, lift all of our people, and preserve this planet.”
Biden’s address, though, was not without criticism. Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley took to Twitter immediately following Biden’s address saying that she felt he did not portray the strength needed to deter America’s enemies.
China is running circles around us, Russia and Iran sense our weakness, terrorists are gaining power, and our closest allies don’t trust us. Just how exactly is America leading by the “power of our example.”
With Joe Biden asleep at the switch, America’s enemies rejoice.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) September 21, 2021
President Biden’s address to the General Assembly came a day after he met with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
According to a White House press release, the two “spoke of the urgency to work together, along with member states of the United Nations, to end the COVID-19 pandemic, prepare for future health security threats, combat climate change, strengthen food systems and food security, address humanitarian needs, prevent and mitigate conflict, and promote and defend human rights worldwide.”
The president also reaffirmed to Guterres his desire to “build back better” and, according to the release, “emphasized the unique role of the United Nations in delivering prosperity, peace and security for everyone.”
President Biden’s full address can be found here.