Under attack

Beijing, April 15 (AP): China demanded an apology from CNN today after network commentator Jack Cafferty called the country’s leaders a “bunch of goons and thugs” and said its products were “junk”.

It was the latest flare-up after Beijing accused western media of bias in its reporting following violent protests in Lhasa last month. US-based CNN has been singled out by Chinese who say overseas news outlets are smearing China.

The comments reflect Cafferty’s “ignorance and ... hostility” towards China, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

“We are shocked and strongly condemn the vicious remarks by Cafferty,” ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. “We solemnly request CNN and Cafferty himself take back the malicious remarks and apologise to the Chinese people.”

The famously curmudgeonly Cafferty made the remarks during an appearance on The Situation Room that aired April 9, according to a transcript posted on the CNN website.

He was speaking about the US trade deficit with China when he said, according to the transcript: “We continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and export, you know, jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we’re buying from Wal-Mart.”

“So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed,” he continued. “I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”

A CNN spokesman in Hong Kong said in an email he did not have immediate comment on the foreign ministry’s demand for an apology. Chinese at home and abroad have denounced western media for what it said was slanted reports about the unrest in Tibet. They say the news outlets have unjustly criticised Beijing in its crackdown.