Chinese province sues U.S. toy company

Remember the scandal surrounding tainted toys from China? Guangdong province does, and its officials think they may have a libel case against giant toymaker Mattel: AFP/Getty Images Mattel recalled more than 21 million Chinese-made toys this summer, but later said that 85% of the recall was due to its own design faults. Many of the ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
598299_071106_guangdong_05.jpg
598299_071106_guangdong_05.jpg

Remember the scandal surrounding tainted toys from China? Guangdong province does, and its officials think they may have a libel case against giant toymaker Mattel:

Remember the scandal surrounding tainted toys from China? Guangdong province does, and its officials think they may have a libel case against giant toymaker Mattel:

AFP/Getty Images

Mattel recalled more than 21 million Chinese-made toys this summer, but later said that 85% of the recall was due to its own design faults. Many of the toy factories involved were based in Guangdong in southern China…

“The incident has stained the reputation of Chinese toy manufacturers and made a large number of toy factories in Guangdong lose a great deal of money,” Chen Lipeng, director of the province’s fair trade bureau, was quoted as saying.

“A simple apology cannot compensate for the losses,” he added.

What’s more, Guangdong may file the lawsuit in U.S. court. There’s no word yet on how much the aggrieved party will be demanding, but watching China learn to love U.S. plaintiff’s lawyers is priceless. 

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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