Washington's 'small clique' politics exposed as China, Russia battle with US over 'rules', 'multilateralism' at UN Wang Wenwen Published: May 07, 2021 05:27 PM Updated: May 07, 2021 10:49 PM UN Security Council holds a meeting on the Iraq issue at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, March 3, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua) Top Chinese and US diplomats clashed again on a China-hosted virtual session of the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Friday. Compared to the China-US Alaska talks, the atmosphere of the multilateralism-themed session was much milder; however, the division and conflicts were still evident. The session is viewed by analysts as a battle over what "rules" and "multilateralism" mean.