Small bites from the UN: Canada’s wider view, one chaotic rumor and reframing someone else’s words

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China and Russia got their turns to speak at the United Nations on Saturday, but that wasn’t all.

Watchers from across the globe could find news that affected their lives at the U.N. General Assembly meetings. Here are a few moments:

Redefining Netanyahu’s words

The foreign minister of Iceland, Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, used part of her time on the world stage Saturday to turn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s words on Friday upside down.

Netanyahu, addressing people who were walking out on his remarks, called them “moral cowards.”

A day later, Gunnarsdóttir was having none of it. Speaking about Gaza, she said:

“We have heard the words ‘moral cowards’ from this podium. To me, moral cowards are those leaders around the world who refuse to sit down and negotiate a just and lasting peace. Those who deny access to humanitarian aid for people in desperate need. And moral cowards are those leaders who repeatedly go against and disrespect international law.”

In diplomacy, Canada looks past the usual horizon

In a stormy year for the usually calm U.S.-Canada relationship, Canada’s top diplomat stressed to the world that her country is looking elsewhere.

“We can no longer afford to be overly reliant on any one partner,” Foreign Minister Anita Anand told the assembly. She spotlighted the government’s efforts to bolster economic ties with Europe, India, China and African countries, and a roster of new security, defense and economic deals inked with various countries this year.

Canada is increasing its defense spending in line with NATO commitments, and it’s expanding its diplomatic footprint, recently opening a new consulate in Greenland to help foster connections around the Arctic, she noted.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a splash in diplomatic circles this year by arguing that “middle powers” need to look out for themselves and for the very concept of international order. He has held Canada out as a pathfinder.

Anand echoed that message, telling the assembly: “In a rapidly changing world, Canada is a reliable partner, and we are ready to work together.”

Was he or wasn’t he? Only his pilot knew for sure

For a brief moment Friday afternoon, a rumor circulated that Chinese leader Xi Jinping would leave Washington and President Donald Trump and come to New York. Was that true? And if so, would he speak on behalf of China at the United Nations?

As reporters scrambled to meet contingencies, we checked around the United Nations and found a definitive answer. Someone inside the U.N. compound who would know, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were giving out information that would normally be issued by the Chinese, had heard nothing and confirmed there was no Chinese advance team on site — as there would always be if Xi was on the way.

That was definitive. After all, the someone said, “The Chinese don’t improvise.”

And that’s exactly the way it happened, or didn’t. Vice President Han Zheng spoke Saturday, exactly as scheduled, and Xi headed home to Beijing.

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Associated Press journalists Jennifer Peltz, Edith M. Lederer and Ted Anthony contributed to this report.