Xi’s White House Summit Overshadows a Dysfunctional U.N. General Assembly
President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington for a summit with President Trump dominated global attention this week, effectively eclipsing the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Xi skipped the U.N. entirely, a move interpreted as a snub to the faltering global body. While the U.S.-China meeting yielded few concrete results beyond a promise to meet again, it highlighted the shifting center of gravity in international power. The U.N. remains paralyzed by Security Council vetoes on issues like the Iran conflict and Gaza, while major powers increasingly bypass it for bilateral deals. Experts note that meaningful progress on critical issues like AI regulation likely requires direct U.S.-China agreements, rendering the U.N. increasingly irrelevant in high-stakes geopolitical crises.
