U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday smeared China again in a series of Twitter posts attacking his likely Democratic opponent Joe Biden on Memorial Day.

Trump attacked Biden and former U.S. president Barack Obama on social media over their work ethic and hobby of golf, a day after Biden slammed the current president for golfing as the coronavirus pandemic rages across America. Trump played golf at his Virginia club on Saturday and Sunday.

Trump, once again via Twitter, used the term "China Virus" when referring to coronavirus, a phrase which had drawn criticism for inciting stigmatization and racial discrimination both domestically and internationally since it was coined in mid-March. 

The repeated use of the term and varied versions such as "Wuhan Virus" by the president and administration officials including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has put Washington and Beijing in the middle of a war of words in the following weeks.

In his self-defending Twitter posts, Trump wrote that he had done a great job in addressing the epidemic but "got no credit for so doing," as more than 1.65 million Americans had tested positive for the virus and over 98,000 had died as of Monday afternoon, according to numbers from Johns Hopkins University.

China has strongly opposed the collective attacking campaign of the Trump administration, saying that it is aimed at shifting the U.S. public's anger over Trump's fractured COVID-19 response.

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Trump's Memorial Day Visit 

Trump visited a national military cemetery and a historic fort to mark Memorial Day, as the country's coronavirus death toll approaches 100,000.

"Tens of thousands of service members and national guardsmen are on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus," Trump said.

"As one nation, we mourn alongside every single family that has lost loved ones, including the families of our great veterans," the president said during a trip which included stops at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore, Maryland.

Trump gave a Memorial Day address in Baltimore on Monday, despite the mayor urging him to cancel the visit, saying it would set the wrong example considering the city is still under lockdown, according to a USA Today report.

According to the Baltimore Sun, fewer than 200 people attended the gathering and most of them wore face masks, while Trump did not. 

Wearing a black mask, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden marked Memorial Day by placing a wreath at a veterans park near his Delaware home, making his first public appearance in more than two months.

A number of states have lifted COVID-19 restrictions just in time for Americans to celebrate, but in many cases it's beaches and parks saw large crowds gathered at this holiday, a traditional start of summer. 

Although COVID-19 cases have dipped overall for the U.S., the spread of the virus has changed from urban to rural areas, according to a Washington Post analysis.

"Rural counties now have some of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country, topping even the hardest-hit New York City boroughs and signaling a new phase of the pandemic — one of halting, scattered outbreaks that could devastate still more of America's most vulnerable towns as states lift stay-at-home orders," the Post reports.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: Members of the U.S. military, veterans and members of the public visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the midst of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic while commemorating the U.S. Memorial Day holiday in Washington, the U.S., May 25, 2020. /Reuters)

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