Washington, May 29: United States President Donald Trump, in the midst of geopolitical tensions with its rival in South Asia, tweeted "China!" on social media. His virtual call-out to the economic arch-nemesis came shortly after the toll of coronavirus cases in the US crossed 1,770,000. The surge in numbers further consolidates America as the worst-hit nation due to COVID-19 pandemic. China Rejects Donald Trump's Offer to Mediate in Sino-India Border Standoff.

Trump, a fierce critic of China's economic policies throughout his presidential tenure, doubled up his attacks on the Asian behemoth after coronavirus began rapidly spreading in the US and Europe.

The US administration has reiterated the demand for an independent probe to ascertain the origins of SARS-CoV-2019 virus and Beijing's initial response to the pandemic.

Donald Trump's Cryptic Tweet

The tweet mentioned "China!" came shortly after Trump, in another social media post, accused Twitter of not regulating the lies and propaganda spread through Beijing.

"Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies and propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party," he said, in response to one his tweets warning of "shooting" the Minneapolis protester was flagged by the micro-blogging site.

Trump, along US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have repeatedly expressed doubts over the alleged lab-made origins of coronavirus. The two leaders are fueling the conspiracy theory which suggests that virus causing COVID-19 was developed at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan and was either accidentally or deliberately leaked.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2020 07:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).