On February 2, 2009, a man threw a shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, muh like the infamous incident when an Iraqi reporter hurled a shoe a former President George W Bush. China ran the coverage of the shoe incident versus Bush, but the "disturbance" involving Mr. Wen was censored from all broadcasts and reports.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, did not explicitly address the shoes at a press conference - but rather referred to the "despicable disturbance" and "disruption" during his speech. She assured the press that the incident would not interfere with friendly Chinese and British relations.
Abiding by strict state regulation, state-run CCTV network and the official Xinhua News Agency made no mention of a shoe thrown at Wen.
"In the live broadcast of the speech on CCTV's Web site, the camera remains fixed on Wen, not showing the shoe or the protestor, although his remarks and the sound ofo the shoe hitting the stage can be heard."
This censorship is an idyllic example of how China continues to "keep a tight grip on its media, blocking any content deemed as a challenge or insulting to the ruling Community Party or the country's leaders."
Sidenote: The shoe was thrown on the third day of Wen's visit to Britain, which was soiled by demonstrations over human rights and policies in Tibet. The man who threw the shoe was not Chinese and will appear before magistrates on charges of committing a public order offense. The shoe was picked up quietly by one of Wen's aids, and Wen continued his speech after a pause and quick sideways glance.
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