What shoe? Chinese media silent on Wen Jiabao incident

Chinese residents opened the People’s Daily or the Beijing News over breakfast today to read glowing accounts of their Premier’s visit to Britain. He held talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and issued a joint communiqué. But no mention of the shoe thrown at him by a protester in Cambridge.

The main web sites, sometimes a trifle more lively and more-up-to-date than the newspapers, gave a tantalising hint that Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Britain may not have gone entirely according to plan. They carried a statement this from the Foreign Ministry this morning voicing dissatisfaction about a “disruption” of his speech.

But what exactly happened? There was little point turning to state-run television for enlightenment. A glance at replays of the Premier’s address at Cambridge University on web sites – all carefully monitored by the Internet police – showed a speech uninterrupted by any disturbance.

The only way for someone in China to uncover the truth was to turn to cyberspace where bloggers enjoy a little more freedom to tell it like it happened. One of the most widely read opened this morning with a photo of the offending grey trainer being retrieved from the stage along with a joking challenge to China’s patriotic youth to turn to Britain as their next target for a boycott after taking on the French for their pro-Tibet stand last year.