PM Wen, Although Some Love You
Chinese students at Cambridge said they LOVE the sweet Premier Wen Jiabao
Premier Wen Jiabao apparently loves adoration, and doesn’t like being protested against, because he’s been always respected and adored in his home country, without any awareness that people should be allowed to disagree and protest. That’s why he called an act of free speech (although impolite) “despicable”.
In a democracy, individuals are allowed to have their own opinions other than government. Government doesn’t automatically get approval & support from all the citizens. I hardly think that guy did think he could damage “friendship” between China & UK by this isolated incident, but Premier Wen took this too serious.
Wen is a good senior gentleman, and I guess most people would agree he is morally respectable. But respect in moral terms cannot translate to ability in governance. What Wen practices by showing care, goodwill, and his moral character and virtue is the same as how this country had been managed in ancient times: when government officials had good qualities in poetry, music and morality (mostly to their own family & parents). But note here, public responsibility, competency in managing public affairs, check & balance of public power are all missing.
By Confucius doctrine, a leader of state shall take all the responsibility to their people (making all decisions for their people, and denying their right to discuss & disagree), good dictator doctrine. Wen and the current Chinese government continues such belief.
I find your analysis of this shoe-throwing incident narrow-minded and biased, mainly because it completely missed the real-world situation. Rather than doing a failed comparison of the the reaction from the Premier (and also the students, who were shouting for the protester to “get the hell out of here”, plus a huge majority of the Chinese populous) into a simple reflection of ancient Chinese doctrine. Perhaps you ought to read about what happened to Muntadhar al-Zaidi after the Bush shoe incident.