03/02/2009

Man Charged Over Chinese PM Shoe Throwing Protest

A 27-year-old man is to appear in court next week accused of throwing a shoe at Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao during a visit to Cambridge University.

The man, who has not been named, has been charged with a public order offence. He will appear in court in Cambridge on February 10.

A shoe was thrown at the Chinese PM, and he was called a "dictator" as he gave his speech on the global economy, at the university.

Mr Wen described the incident as "despicable".

Witnesses said the shoe landed about a metre away from the Chinese Premier.

He was giving the speech after having earlier signed a series of trade agreements with British PM Gordon Brown.

Earlier, Gordon Brown had described the relationship between Britain and China as "a pivotal force" in helping the country through the recession.

"I believe that there is much scope for trade and investment to expand between our two countries even in these most difficult of times for the global economy," Mr Brown said.

"The strength of the relationship between China and Britain will be a pivotal force in helping us through the downturn and a powerful driving force behind our future growth and prosperity.

"We know from previous downturns that a retreat to narrow, short-term protectionist policies would only serve to deepen the global recession and we must not and will not allow that to happen again."

The shoe-throwing attack mirrors the incident when an Iraqui reporter threw his shoes at former US President George W. Bush in December.

(JM/BMcC)

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