In China, the U.S. is to blame for the recalls. That’s laughable.

Mattel (MAT.N) has only itself to blame for a huge toy recall that has stoked global alarm about Chinese-made goods, state media said on Thursday, charging that a slew of foreign safety scares had exposed a protectionist agenda.

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The overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s official paper, continued Beijing’s recent counter-offensive, putting the spotlight on multinationals that have used China as a production base.

“If it comes down to blame, then it all lies with the U.S. side,” the paper said of the Mattel magnet recall, noting that the problem was a design defect. “The Chinese manufacturer only produced according to those specifications.”

A China-based company that let lead in the toy paint would be punished, but even here Mattel must share blame, the paper said, noting that the U.S. firm had worked with it for over a decade.

It’s already been determined that the man who ran the manufacturing plant committed suicide because he could not live with the guilt of knowing that a business associate used lead based paint to save money. I highly doubt anyone at Mattel was involved with that decision.

You just gotta love state run media, don’t you?

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