Brown regrets shoe-throwing incident

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed "regret" over the shoe-throwing incident that interrupted Premier Wen Jiabao's speech at Cambridge University on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

In a letter to Wen on Wednesday, Brown said it was "a matter of regret" that his speech was disrupted, ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

According to Jiang, Brown said "Wen's speech at Cambridge was widely welcomed and very impressive". Highlighting the importance of Sino-British ties, Brown said "important results" had been achieved during Wen's visit to Europe.