"China's embarrassment in all this could lead to that, and I think they were trying to head that off with this apology," Johnson said.
Peter Navarro, a business professor at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of The Coming China Wars, also suggested Mattel was trying to avoid punitive measures.
"Mattel is worried that the Chinese government is going to make it difficult for them to produce, put their costs up and hurt their stock price," Navarro said.
In a prepared statement issued later on Friday, the company said some media accounts of its meeting with Chinese officials had been mischaracterized.
"Since Mattel toys are sold the world over, Mattel apologized to the Chinese today just as it has wherever its toys are sold," the company said.
RSS