摘要：UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the General Debate of the 80th session of the U
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the General Debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, September 23, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
ByAdriel Kasonta
The annual theater of diplomacy is once again on stage in New York. From September 23 to 27, concluding on September 29, the General Debate of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is unfolding under the lofty theme: "Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights." The slogan carries significant practical relevance. As the world listens to sermons on the virtues of peace, development, and human rights, Gaza lies in ruins, millions face food insecurity, and the Global South continues to bear the consequences of a world order designed to serve the West.
Presiding over this session is UNGA President Annalena Baerbock of Germany, who, in her opening statement, warned that the UN now stands at a "make-or-break moment." She is right. But what she did not say – what the chamber avoids saying outright – is that the institution's paralysis stems from the hypocrisy of the very powers who claim to be its guardians.
Take Gaza. The word "genocide" reverberates through the corridors of the UN, yet the hands behind the tragedy are known and visible. Germany, in a late gesture of self-cleansing, suspended certain arms exports to Israel. But according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Berlin was Israel's second-largest arms supplier between 2020 and 2024, providing a third of its imports – frigates, torpedoes, anti-tank weapons. America, of course, tops the list, with 66 percent of Tel Aviv's arsenal stamped "Made in the USA."
That did not stop U.S. President Donald Trump from taking the UN rostrum this week to deliver his familiar blend of menace and theater. With unqualified backing for Israel as bombs rained on Gaza, Trump castigated European governments for recognizing Palestine, called openly for the fueling of racial tensions across Europe, and, in perhaps the most telling passage, questioned whether the UN should exist at all. If his words sounded like the unravelling of multilateralism, that is because they were. For Trump, the UN is not a forum for dialogue but a stage to reassert U.S. exceptionalism.
Western nations present their presence in the General Assembly as a commitment to universal values. But for much of the Global South, these values are a hologram. A recent Lancet study estimated that unilateral sanctions imposed by Western states since 1970 have caused 38 million deaths, averaging nearly a million lives lost each year. Sanctions are framed as "tools for peace," but they operate as instruments of war by stealth. This is not negligence; it is calculation.
Against this bleak canvas, China has attempted to sketch an alternative. Beijing's "four initiatives" – on global development, global security, global civilization and global governance – are less about offering the perfect blueprint and more about presenting what one might call a "Chinese key" to unlock deadlocks.
The Global Development Initiative emphasizes tackling poverty, food insecurity and digital inequality. In a world where Western aid is often tied to political obedience, the initiative stresses shared growth without strings attached. The Global Security Initiative seeks indivisible security – where one state's safety cannot come at another's expense. Compare this with NATO's logic of encirclement, and the contrast is stark.
The Global Civilization Initiative underlines respect for cultural diversity, a counterweight to the West's tired insistence on exporting its values at gunpoint or through economic coercion. The Global Governance Initiative calls for reform of institutions like the UN itself, amplifying voices from Africa, Latin America and Asia that have been historically underrepresented.
None of these proposals will solve the world's crises overnight, but they acknowledge something Western leaders refuse to: that the rules-based order has long been rules-for-the-West.
Trump's rhetoric at the UN provided a chilling reminder of where this mindset leads. His "Make America Great Again" creed has always flirted with darker historical resonances. James Whitman's book titled "Hitler's American Model" demonstrated how Nazi lawyers studied U.S. race laws when drafting the Nuremberg Laws. The echoes are not subtle. When Trump signals to far-right groups in Europe, he is not innovating – he is reviving old templates of division.
For Palestinians, for Africans choked by sanctions, for climate refugees, the lesson is brutal: The West uses the UN not as a safeguard but as a shield. Its vetoes, its double standards and its arms deals all point to one mission – preserving dominance at the expense of human lives.
If China succeeds in advancing its initiatives, the UN may yet find a new lease of legitimacy as a platform for genuine multipolarity. The 80th session thus marks more than an anniversary. It is an epitaph in draft. Either the institution redefines itself around justice, or it becomes another relic of Western hubris. And for those clinging to hope, Palestine today is not just a tragedy; it is a warning.
Adriel Kasonta, a special commentator for CGTN, is a London-based foreign affairs analyst and commentator. He is the founder of AK Consultancy and former chairman of the International Affairs Committee at Bow Group, the oldest conservative think tank in the UK.
来源：中国网一点号