US computer giant Dell Inc, in the centre of a public relations whirlwind which may damage its relations with competitor Lenovo and the Chinese Government, was trying to mend fences yesterday after an employee stated that Lenovo's IBM acquisition was "directly supporting/funding the Chinese Government."

In a statement released yesterday, Dell China expressed regret about the comments and said the views "in no way" represented the position of the US giant.

It added it would take appropriate action concerning the employee and that it took the incident very seriously.

In an e-mail to a customer posted on the Internet on May 27, a Dell account manager - identified only as Chris - said: "From an IBM perspective, please do not think I'm throwing stones."

He went on to say Lenovo, which acquired US behemoth IBM's personal computer unit in December, was a Chinese Government-owned company and every dollar spent on IBM's computers was "directly supporting/funding the Chinese Government."

On late Monday, Lenovo released a written statement expressing deep regret over the comments by the Dell account manager.

The statement said that a leading company like Dell should adhere to business ethics and respect national governments and enterprises.

Dai Linyan, a spokeswoman from Lenovo, said yesterday that her company would be closely watching developments, but did not say if the company would demand a formal apology from Dell or take other action.

Earlier in February, another Lenovo competitor, HP, published an advertisement in a Taiwan newspaper which read: "Don't even mention Lenovo." HP later apologized.

But the Dell case has also the raised eyebrows of watchers from outside the industry.

Fang Xingdong, a well-known industrial observer in Beijing, said Dell's strategy of mixing competition with politics could potentially bring huge losses to the Chinese firm. He even suggested the Chinese Government consult with Dell about the situation.

Wang Zhile, a senior multinational corporation development expert with a Ministry of Commerce research institute, said it was important to first ascertain if the comments reflected the views of Dell or were the opinions of a single member of staff. He warned that any nationalism inspired by the controversy could harm the economic co-operation of the two countries.

Source: China Daily