The article examines the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic on the rivalry between China and the United States. The analysis of the reasons why the United States unleashed the «new cold war», considering China as its main competitor at the international level, is given. It is noted that these reasons are interpreted by political scientists from different countries in different ways. According to the authors of the article, the long struggle between China and the United States for hegemony during the pandemic has moved into a new phase, in which the sphere of ideology has become a very important field of struggle. The US ideological offensive against China aims to restrain China's development and prevent it from challenging US hegemony. It is proved that, despite the fact that the ideological confrontation between the United States and communist China has been going on for many decades, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has seriously changed the forms of the US ideological offensive against communist China.