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.

But still no account of what happened. Comments on the blog directed readers to a series of sites that did finally carry the news of the shoe-throwing incident – but all were from overseas and all in English. One gave a link to the Sky News clip of the incident.

Comments were mainly humorous. Several suggested a boycott of the English language, some a boycott of the 2012 London Olympics. Others commented that either Premier Wen had shown off his dodging skills or the shoe thrower’s skills were abysmal. The shoe fell several feet wide of its target. Another complained that Hong Kong-based Phoenix television cut away from live transmission of the speech as the fracas began. State-run China Central Television did the same, splicing in nervous presenters and advertisements until the man was taken away.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: “The Chinese side has expressed its strong dissatisfaction about the incident. Te British side has expressed deep regret to the Chinese side and said Britain would punish this person in accordance with laws."

She added: “Facts show the troublemaker who conducted this mean act is not accepted by the public, and he will not stop the trend of a developing friendly relationship between China and Britain."

As for the protester who shouted down the Premier and then tossed his shoe, British police said a 27-year-old man had been charged with a public order offence and would appear in court on February 10. He was not identified.

The Premier had appeared unperturbed. Turning to the audience, he said: “This despicable behaviour cannot stand in the way of friendship between China and the UK." His response has yet to be relayed to the Chinese people.

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