NEW YORK (GZERO MEDIA) - Who is to blame for the outbreak of the coronavirus?

The topic is an interesting one considering an unusual public spat between China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian and China's ambassador to the US, Mr Cui Tiankai.

On March 12, Mr Zhao suggested in a tweet that the US military might have brought the virus to Wuhan.

When asked about Mr Zhao's comments in an interview with Axios On HBO, Mr Cui opposed the theory, saying that such speculation is "harmful."

The split amongst Beijing's diplomatic corps is rare considering that the countries' officials stick closely to the Communist Party's official line.

But the blame does not matter as much as the global community's response to the virus' impacts, says American foreign policy expert Ian Bremmer.

The number of coronavirus infections has now exceeded 3 million, many countries have travel restrictions in place and economies are taking a hit.

"Millions have been forced out of work and this ongoing feud between superpowers is making it that much harder to come up with a unified plan," he says.

The one thing that is certain is that the Covid-19 pandemic has only placed further strain on US-China relations in an already heightened moment of competition and rivalry between the two nations.

This GZERO media video is being shown here as part of a media partnership agreement with The Straits Times.