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James Reynolds' China

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Looking to Gaza... and America

  • James Reynolds
  • 20 Jan 09, 09:15 AM GMT

Earlier this month, during Israel's offensive in Gaza, I told you that China had yet to send its Middle East envoy back to the region.

An update for you: China's envoy, Sun Bigan, has now been back to the Middle East. This afternoon, in Beijing, he held a news conference to report on his trip.

Mr Sun told us that China was seeking a long-term solution to the conflict and that China would continue to promote talks for peace. He said that Israel should stop its actions in Gaza and that Hamas should stop its rocket fire.

Standard diplomatic words... delivered at a time when it's fair to say that almost no-one outside China was listening. The main offensive in Gaza appears to be over. And Mr Sun's news conference took place on a day in which the world's attention is elsewhere.

Mark Ndesandjo, the intensely private half-brother of President-elect Barack Obama, gives the thumbs up at a charity concert in Shenzhen, southern China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2009. The press release for the concert didn

One man in China may be more excited about Barack Obama's inauguration than everyone else. On its front page, the China Daily newspaper reports on Mark Ndesandjo, who is one of Mr Obama's half-brothers. The paper says that Mr Ndesanjado has lived in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen for the last seven years (the paper reports that he is a vegetarian who practises Chinese calligraphy).

His half-brother's swearing in as the 44th US President takes place at 1am China time. I'll stay up to see how Chinese TV covers it.

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