The government appeared to want to play down the embarrassing incident domestically, with the state-run press either censoring or ignoring the event and Internet chatter about it restricted to a few pro-China comments.

"The Chinese side has expressed its strong dissatisfaction about the incident," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.

But it then acknowledged the British government had expressed "deep regret" and police had charged the 27-year-old man who hurled a shoe at Wen as the premier gave a speech at Cambridge University in England on Monday.

"The British side... said Britain would punish this person in accordance with laws," Jiang said.

"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."

In a clear echo of the Iraqi journalist who threw a shoe at George W. Bush in Baghdad in December, the protester in Cambridge shouted: "This is a scandal," as he interrupted Wen's speech from the back of the auditorium.

"This dictator here, how can you listen to the lies he's telling? You are not challenging him," he said before blowing a whistle and hurling a sports trainer at Wen, who had been discussing China's role in the globalised world.

The shoe landed about a metre away from Wen, who glanced sharply to one side to watch it hit the stage, but did not appear frightened and kept his composure.

As the protester was bundled out, he shouted to audience members: "Stand up and protest," to which some of the spectators -- most of whom appeared to be Chinese students -- retorted: "Shame on you, shame on you."

After the interruption, Wen reproached the demonstrator.

"This despicable behaviour cannot stand in the way of friendship between China and the UK," he said, receiving a round of applause from the audience.

Chinese media made scant mention of the shoe-throwing incident, with the official Xinhua news agency saying only that a "disturbance" during the speech had led to a reaction from the nation's foreign ministry.

It did not describe what the "disturbance" was.

Some other official media, such as the People's Daily newspaper, omitted the incident completely when reporting on Wen's speech.

China's main television station, CCTV, which broadcast the speech live, abruptly cut away from the coverage when the protest happened.

There was only a little more discussion about the protest within China's Internet community, which also faces government censorship.

Comments on Internet blogs expressed strong support for Wen, a politician who is liked in China due to his populist touch, but it was impossible to tell if censors deleted dissenting views as regularly happens on other issues.

"Our great Premier," said one netizen on popular news web portal sohu.com.

"We have confidence in going through the global economic crisis under the Premier's leadership, we have determination, and a minority of people doing despicable acts cannot stop us."

Nationalist comments were posted in English on chinaren.com, another popular online portal.

"I might not support the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), but I fully and truly support the one-China ideology," a netizen said.

"Anyone against this, particularly any America, Brit, Russian, German, French, etc. should look at what they have done in the past few centuries and reflect on their own actions first before castigating others."

China PM's trip to Britain ends in shoe protest
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's European tour ended dramatically on Monday when a protester hurled a shoe at him as he gave a speech at Britain's Cambridge University.

Police in the eastern English city later charged a 27-year-old man with a public order offence in relation to the incident, which came at the end of a three-day trip to Britain that included talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In a clear echo of the Iraqi journalist who threw a shoe at George W. Bush in Baghdad in December, the Caucasian protester had shouted "This is a scandal" as he interrupted Wen's speech from the back of the auditorium.

"This dictator here, how can you listen to the lies he's telling? You are not challenging him," he said before blowing a whistle and hurling a sports trainer at Wen, who had been discussing China's role in the globalised world.

The shoe landed about a yard from the Chinese premier, who glanced sharply to one side to watch it hit the stage, but did not appear frightened. A security man kicked the shoe off the stage.

As the protester was bundled out, he shouted to audience members: "Stand up and protest," to which some of the spectators -- most of whom appeared to be Chinese students -- retorted: "Shame on you, shame on you."

After the interruption, Wen reproached the demonstrator.

"This despicable behaviour cannot stand in the way of friendship between China and the UK," he said, receiving a round of applause from the audience.

The incident echoed the protest by Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi against then-US president Bush on December 14, which won him global fame.

A spokeswoman for Cambridge police said: "Following an incident in the auditorium during the premier's speech earlier today, a man has been charged with a public order offence." He will appear in court on February 10, she said.

She gave no information about the nationality of the man, who appeared to have a non-English, European accent.

Wen was interrupted as he delivered a largely anodyne speech in front of about 500 people in a concert hall here. Security was tight, and outside about 200 mostly pro-Chinese demonstrators were kept in two pens on the pavement.

Supporters waved red Chinese flags, some banged drums and there was a colourful paper dragon -- although one banner said: "Remember Tiananmen."

Earlier, Wen held talks with Brown in London where he promised to join urgent and coordinated action to avert a global economic disaster.

Brown said Britain wants to double its exports to China within 18 months, and stressed the relationship between the two nations would be a "pivotal force" in weathering the global economic storm.

Wen's first visit to Britain since 2006 came at the end of a high-profile European trip that included Germany, Spain, the European Union headquarters in Brussels and the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.

But the tour was clouded by pro-Tibetan protests which regularly target trips by Chinese leaders.

China is particularly sensitive about Tibet questions ahead of the 50th anniversary of the March 1959 uprising that led to the escape of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile.

In London, some 50 pro-Tibetan and 100 pro-Chinese demonstrators gathered outside Brown's Downing Street office for rival protests to coincide with Wen's visit there. Five pro-Tibetan activists had been arrested in a protest Sunday.

Chinese state television CCTV broadcast Wen's speech in Cambridge but abruptly cut away from the coverage when the protest happened.

A proctor, who is responsible for discipline at the university, told AFP that university officials asked the protester to stop shouting and sit down.

"He continued, took off a shoe and then threw it towards the stage. The constables (university police) got to him and took him out," he said.

University Vice-Chancellor Professor Alison Richard said she "deeply regret" the outburst, saying: "This university is a place for considered argument and debate, not for shoe-throwing."

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