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U.S. President Donald Trump fired shots against China on all fronts in his annual UN General Assembly address on Tuesday. The country's COVID-19 response, carbon emission, and trade policy are all within range of Trump's rhetorical attack. "China" was mentioned 11 times in Trump's seven-minute speech.

In sharp contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping made no mention of the United States at Tuesday's event. The message of cooperation was repeated throughout Xi's speech. "We will not seek to develop only ourselves or engage in a zero-sum game," Xi said, stressing that Beijing has "no intention to fight either a Cold War or a hot one with any country."

While China has extended an olive branch for global collaborations, the leader of the world's superpower is still flaring up tensions and advocating unilateralism at the time that requires unprecedented collaborations. For the Trump administration, despite the international community's call for cooperation and multilateralism, the need to distance itself from domestic criticisms carries much more weight than its global responsibilities.

"We must hold accountable the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world: China," Trump said. But interestingly, the country that Trump harshly blamed is one of the first among the world to have put the pandemic under effective control, while the United States is "leading" the globe in COVID-19 deaths – more than 200,000. Accounting for 4 percent of the world's population, the U.S. has contributed to 20 percent of the global COVID-19 deaths.

Blaming China is the same old tactic that the Trump administration has played for political gains. Earlier, the president said the government would have done a "very good job" if the deaths were between 100,000 and 200,000. But now, with over 200,000 American lives lost, the Trump administration is desperate to deflect attention from its failed handling of the pandemic.

This is especially the case when the clock is ticking down on November's election. With around only 40 days left before the final day, the Trump administration is seizing every chance to shirk responsibilities for rising COVID-19 deaths, staggering economic growth, and the country's imbalanced trade by heaping opprobrium on Beijing while exaggerating its efforts in finding a solution. Trump's UN speech is the latest attempt of this kind. Its attacks on China are nothing but an unfound distraction.

Apart from playing the blame game, Trump, amid repeated calls for renewing commitment to multilateralism, also justified his unilateral tendency at the UN's 75th anniversary. "Only when you take care of your own citizens will you find a true basis for cooperation… I am proudly putting America first, just as you should be putting your countries first," Trump said.

Every government has the responsibility to take care of its citizens. This does not contradict the principle of international cooperation. Multilateral collaborations are to better serve the people. Shirking international responsibilities may bring the United States some short-term benefits – for instance, fewer military outputs for NATO allies, but this is at the cost of the long-term interests of the country and the world.

Washington's dwindling influences on the global arena are among the sacrifices. Even American media outlets admitted this. "China, not the United States, has shown it knows how to work the multilateral system to its advantage," Vox News said in its recent article, suggesting that Washington's ceding leverage is giving Beijing the influence it craves.

Unilateralism has also put the world's future at risk in the era of global integration. At Tuesday's event, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned against the start of a new Cold War where "the two largest economies split the globe in a great fracture." History proves a Cold War benefits none. Tensions between the world's largest two economies will severely hamper the global supply chain, and it is the entire world that will pay the price for it.

Since assuming office, Trump has been withdrawing his country from international bodies, and dismissiveness of global cooperation has been a major theme of his presidency. It is within expectations that he will revisit America First doctrine at the UN General Assembly. But in the face of multiple challenges, the speech is inappropriate, to say the least. It is not time to play politics. The earlier the U.S. resorts to global cooperation, the quicker it may recover from the pandemic.

Scriptwriter: Liu Jianxi

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