The United Nations is observing its 75th anniversary as the post-World War Two global order which created it is on unstable grounds. The former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has observed that multilateralism is in serious chaos.
President Donald Trump's America First foreign policy has seen the US pulling itself from multilateral agreements which include the Paris Climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal. China on the other hand is positioning itself as the new supporter of the United Nations.
Beijing is devoting more money to fund UN agencies like the World Health Organization and many more as a result China would desire more say in the organisation.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres talked of a foundational moment facing the UN. He said that those who established the United Nations understood the importance of unity as they had lived through war and an earlier pandemic.
Concerns about what the US-China rivalry means for global stability is given much importance at this remote gathering of world leaders.
The French President Emmanuel Macron said in his pre-recorded remarks that today's world can't be left to the rivalry between China and the US.
That rivalry, which has seen the two countries lock horns on everything from trade to technology, is becoming increasingly bitter - and President Trump twisted up the rhetoric, using his platform on the world stage to criticize China by calling Corona Virus as the China virus.
As the US election date gets closer, Bejing bashing becomes central to the Trump campaign. It appears that Trump through Bejing bashing attempt to divert criticism from his failure to handle the outbreak of Virus.
Would a bi-polar world in which the US and China compete for supremacy eventually lead to military conflict? The UN Secretary-General has warned the world of another Cold War as he addressed his concerns.
Mr Guterres said," We are moving towards a dangerous direction. Our world cannot afford a future where the two biggest economies divide the globe in a Great Fracture, each with its trade and financial rules and internet and artificial intelligence capacities. A technological and economic divide risks unavoidably turning into a geostrategic and military split. We must not travel in that direction".
This open conversation about the outcomes of a "great fracture " confirms how swiftly the world is changing, and how statesmen are struggling to keep up.
China's President Xi Jinping declared at the virtual general debate that China has no plan to fight either a Cold War or a hot war with any nation.
The presidency of Donald Trump has elevated tensions with China which have put the world in great danger.
According to some experienced diplomat, the general debate at the UN was seen as creative chaos. The pandemic has exploited the injustices of the world, witnessed the UN secretary-general. People are in troubling, our planet is on fire, he said, urging world leaders to see Covid-19 as a wake-up call and prepare for the challenges ahead.
Yet within an hour of Mr Guterres saying solidarity is self-interest, President Trump announced that all world leaders should follow his example and put their countries first.
If Donald Trump is re-elected, his unilateralism will become more pronounced, and the United Nations will probably be further marginalised by the US.
Would the US commitment to NATO weaken too? If Joe Biden is elected as president instead of Trump, the tension between US and China might be declined, but the fundamental US-China rivalry would remain.
The world is realigning, and the question now is how the old multilateral order adapts - and who will lead it.
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