In a commentary Sunday, Xinhua said Pelosi, who met last month in India with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, "is detested by the Chinese people." It accused her of displaying a "stubborn anti-China sentiment and uneasiness about China's peaceful rise."

Cafferty, a resident curmudgeon at CNN, sounded off on China on the program "The Situation Room" on April 9. He said the United States imports "their junk with the lead paint" and its "poisoned pet food" while losing factory jobs to China, a country run by "the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years."

Jiang, the ministry spokeswoman, said Cafferty "used his microphone to denigrate China and Chinese people" and that his remarks constitute racism.

A Chinese "anti-CNN" Web site contained plenty of vitriolic remarks against Cafferty by Tuesday.

"Nobody should ever take this hyperthyroid rooster too seriously," said one commenter, adding that Cafferty is prone to "anti-Chinese diarrhea."