Jon Huntsman, the charismatic U.S. ambassador to China and possible 2012 presidential contender, was spotted on Sunday amid the crowds around Beijing’s Wangfujing shopping district. At the same time, it happened that China’s revolution-that-wasn’t was underway, attracting a few hundred demonstrators and many more police.
Huntsman’s appearance in photos of the protests drew some criticism – particularly given that it appears he would run against his current boss, President Barrack Obama, if he were to win a Republican primary. But a spokesman for the embassy told AFP the ambassador was not demonstrating at the Jasmine Revolution. Wangfujing is a major downtown shopping district at the heart of the city and typically jammed with weekend sightseers. Huntsman, apparently, was among those, not with the demonstrators. The spokesman said Huntsman’s presence there was “purely coincidental.”
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