China’s Ambassador in London today went to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after being summoned to explain her country’s execution of Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen.
Mr Shaikh, a convicted drug smuggler who is believed to have suffered from bipolar disorder, was killed by lethal injection early today, despite the personal intervention of Gordon Brown in a telephone call to Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier.
The execution was condemned by the Prime Minister and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, with the Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis declaring that it made him feel “sick to the stomach”.
Mr Shaikh’s family said that they were “deeply saddened, stunned and disappointed” by the execution.
President Barack Obama absorbed history’s expanse Wednesday from atop the Great Wall of China, a manmade wonder of such
enormity that Obama found himself putting daily life in perspective.
“It’s magical,” Obama said, walking down a ramp alone, his hands in his pockets. “It reminds you of the sweep of history and our time here on earth is not that long. We better make the best of it.”
Playing tourist on his first visit ever to China, President Barack Obama drew a chilly comparison between the Chinese capital and his Illinois hometown.
“I have to say I didn’t realize that Beijing gets as cold as my hometown of Chicago,” the president said Tuesday just before sitting down for a one-on-one meeting with Wu Bangguo, chairman of China’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Earlier in the day, Obama had spent nearly an hour touring the Forbidden City’s maze of red buildings and cobblestone courtyards. With snow dotting the roofs and patches of ice lining courtyards, Obama bundled up against the frigid weather in a sweater and brown shearling jacket. He kept his hands in his pockets to ward off the chill.
Built in the 1400s, the Forbidden City once was home to 24 Chinese emperors who ruled the country for nearly 500 years, between 1420 and 1911. The former imperial palace is now known as the Palace Museum, and is open to Beijing’s visitors.
President Barack Obama on Monday arrived in Beijing from Shanghai, for the second leg of his maiden state visit to China.
Obama arrived in China on Sunday on a three-day mission aimed at convincing Beijing that Washington is its partner, not its rival.
In a town hall speech in Shanghai, the US leader pushed for an unshackled Internet and expanded political freedoms as he sought to get around China’s media curbs.
He also said the United States and China, two economically interlocked rivals, need not be adversaries, appealing to millions of Chinese web surfers on the first day of his first visit to what he termed “a majestic country”. Obama’s speech
“I have always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I am a big supporter of non-censorship,” Obama said, before flying to Beijing for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Sunday pledged to give Africa 10 billion dollars in loans, brushing off criticism of “neo-colonialism” as China boosts its presence on the continent.
“We will help Africa build up its financing capabilities … We will provide 10 billion US dollars for Africa in concessional loans,” Wen told a Forum on China-Africa Cooperation which opened in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday.
His pledge was included among measures he said would be taken over the next three years, including cancelling debts of African countries to increase his country’s role in the continent.
The Asian giant pledged five billion dollars in assistance over three years at the last Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit, held in Beijing in 2006, and has signed agreements to relieve or cancel the debt of 31 African nations.
It will also provide a one-billion-dollar loan for “for small and medium-sized businesses,” Wen said.
A court in western China’s Xinjiang region sentenced six people to death on Monday in the first trials over July 5 riots that left nearly 200 people dead, state-run television reported.
China Central Television said one other defendant was sentenced to life in prison over the unrest, the worst ethnic violence to hit China in decades.
During the rioting, members of the ethnic Uighur minority — most of whom are Muslims — went on a rampage in attacks directed mainly at members of China’s dominant Han ethnic group.
The riots left 197 people dead, most of them Han, according to the government.
