Trump's China remark rebuked

US President Donald Trump is facing another round of backlash from elected officials and rights leaders after his confrontation with a Chinese American reporter and later claim that Asian Americans are "angry" at China's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that Asian Americans are "VERY angry at what China has done to our Country" and "Chinese Americans are the most angry of all."

He made the remark in response to Monday's White House news conference, where he told Weijia Jiang of CBS News, a female Chinese American reporter, to "ask China" instead of him in response to his remark that the US had "prevailed" on virus testing. The president then abruptly ended the news conference.

"It's ridiculous that he continues to point the finger at China and to suggest that Chinese Americans are angry at China. He actually doesn't know anything about how Asian Americans or Chinese Americans feel," Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, told China Daily.

She said it's "ludicrous" for him to put out a statement like that one of many "inaccurate" statements he's made to deflect from the public crisis that he's in charge of managing.

Asian Americans have experienced a rise in prejudice and bias attacks since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the US.

Many people, including elected officials, scholars and activists, said it's a campaign strategy of Trump and his Republican allies to aggressively attack China, which puts Asian Americans in harm's way.

"It's very clear that Trump and his administration and other elected officials are trying to distract the American people from the bungling of this public health crisis management and trying to blame China," said Choi, adding that "it is irresponsible for him to continue down this path".

Choi's organization partnered with two other groups in California to launch a "Stop AAPI Hate" reporting center in mid-March to track coronavirus-related racial incidents.

The online site has received more than 1,700 reports from across the country, and more continue to come in every day, according to Choi.

The reports"actually say the opposite" to Trump's claim that Asian Americans are angry at China, said Choi.

"What we are learning from these descriptions of what is happening to people is that those who are targeting Asians are invoking Trump and are saying things like, 'Go back to China,' and 'You brought this virus here,' basically parroting the conservatives and parroting Trump and his administration," she said.

"And then if he (Trump) would like to know what Asian Americans feel about the situation, he should read our reports in our data and what people are experiencing together to get a good sense of what is really happening," said Choi.

"We are very angry with you," wrote US Representative Grace Meng of New York on Twitter in response to Trump. "You use racism to disguise your lack of responsiveness and responsibility. American lives of all backgrounds have been lost. Your words have led to increased discrimination against Asian Americans which will outlast the coronavirus."

George Koo, a member of the Committee of 100 and an independent political critic, also accused Trump of lacking responsibility.

"In the history of the United States, there has never been a president like Donald Trump. He is a president that takes no responsibility for not discharging the duties of his office and no responsibility for what he says," Koo told China Daily.

US Representative Judy Chu of California said she's concerned about the violence directed toward Asian Americans in her district.

"I am concerned that the sentiment we are seeing could have long-term consequences that will outlast the pandemic," she said. Chu told a webinar that the election in November is "the most important election of our lives", as "all these anti-Chinese kinds of actions that are being taken could change drastically, if we change who's up there in the White House".

Chang Jun in San Francisco contributed to this story.