US President Donald Trump File Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump's latest blame game salvo that he is "having a very hard time with China," is deemed as another political posturing aimed at deflecting his accountability in his administration's woeful management of the coronavirus spread, while provoking more verbal tussle with China. 

Chinese analysts warned that the Trump administration, which is currently facing both economic predicaments with rising unemployment, a distressed economy and rising domestic anger over its missteps in handling coronavirus, should focus more on problem-solving and cooperation with China, instead of indulging deeply in its blame game to divert domestic attention.

President Trump on Friday said he's "having a very hard time with China" and hasn't decided how to handle the international trade relationship, following a call between top trade representatives of the two nations.

The US itself is responsible for the "very hard time with China" due to its torrents of unfounded allegations to scapegoat China, including peddling the malicious 'Wuhan lab virus origin' conspiracy theory, to divert attention from Trump's missteps on virus prevention, Shen Yi, a professor of international politics at Shanghai's Fudan University, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Shen said he expected Trump will move to use the coronavirus outbreak in the US as a "lever" against China. However, there are now rising evidences propping up across the world that shows, although China's Wuhan was first battered by the contagious disease, the origin of the virus remains a mystery. 

Trump said on Friday he was "very torn" about whether to call an end to the so-called Phase One US-China trade deal, just hours after top trade officials from both countries pledged to press ahead.

The COVID-19 was a head-on blow to the US economy as the US unemployment rate skyrocketed to 14.7 percent at the end of April, the worst since the Great Depression. 

"If the pandemic continuously exerts pressure on employment, pushing the unemployment rate to 16 percent or even higher, it means the US will face another Great Depression, which will be an unprecedented challenge for Trump, and will propel him to go full throttle scapegoating China and possibly portray the latter as an adversary for the US," Diao Daming, a US studies expert at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times. 

The recent spar between China and the US over coronavirus' origin has deepened the animosity between the two countries. China hawks US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been rancorously alleging that a Wuhan virology research lab manufactured the coronavirus, and now, hedged their assertion as the statements were contradicted by substantial scientific evidence that proved otherwise. 

Rebuking US conspiracy theory on Thursday, Hua Chunying, spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry lashed out at the US government with a tirade of questions. She asked: how many truths were earthed in the US? Who is putting the Americans' lives at risk? Are 60,000 deaths sufficient to shake the consciousness of the US politicians? Are US politicians using their morality and American people's lives for personal political benefits?

"We hope US politicians indulging in the blame game could wake up and focus on virus prevention and saving more American lives," Hua said.