This is the same rationale behind the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982, in a way. In the 80s, US corporations blamed Japan for the loss of auto-related jobs, and so a couple guys beat and murdered Vincent Chin, thinking he was Japanese when really he was a Chinese-American industrial draftsman. His murderers were found innocent in court.
If it wasn't China being the bogeyman currently, it would be some other non-white ethnicity that would get the blame. Japan, Afghanistan, India, the Philippines, etc.