Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co required CNN anchor Jack Cafferty to look at its port machines installed at ports in the United States and said it would sue him should he repeat his anti-China remarks again.
The Shanghai-listed company publicized an open letter on its Website, becoming the first Chinese company to protest Cafferty's prejudice towards China.
The company demanded Cafferty "take a look" at its products.
"The east coast and west coast of the United States have already purchased about 200 large container handling machines. The high efficiency of the machines enables trillions of US dollars worth of products to be imported and exported," the letter said.
The letter repudiated the assertion that Chinese products were "junk," adding that the "ignorance" of Cafferty infuriated the company's 400 workers.
If Cafferty continues his hostility toward China, the company will "immediately hire a lawyer in the United States to sue him for libel," the letter said.
Cafferty recently said in the TV program The Situation Room that people were "basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years" and called Chinese products "junk," triggering anger among Chinese worldwide. CNN later said Cafferty's remarks were targeting the Chinese government, not the Chinese people.
The central government and most Chinese dismissed the explanation as insincere. Thousands of overseas Chinese protested in front of CNN's branch in Los Angeles demand CNN fire Cafferty and apologize.
Zhenhua is the world's largest quayside crane maker. Its products have been exported to 54 countries and regions and more than 120 terminals around the world.
The company has a 70 percent share of the world container machinery market. Its operation in the American area has generated an income of 2.6 billion yuan (US$37.14 million), or 13 percent of its total revenue, the report said.
(Shanghai Daily April 21, 2008)