US President Barack Obama will meet his half-brother Mark Ndesandjo and his sister-in-law during his first official visit to China, the American Chamber of Commerce said Friday.

Ndesandjo and his Chinese wife set off for Beijing on Friday from their home in Shenzhen — a southern city neighbouring Hong Kong — to prepare for Obama's arrival, a spokesperson for AmCham in South China told AFP.

"It will be the first time for Mark to introduce his wife to President Obama," the spokesperson said.

Ndesandjo told China's state-run Xinhua news agency that he wanted his wife, who is from the central eastern province of Henan, to meet the US president as "she is one of Obama's loyal fans."

Ndesandjo, son of Obama's late father and his third wife Ruth Nidesand, also told the agency he was delighted that the president was taking the opportunity to see China for himself during his first visit to Asia.

"I am very glad that he is coming here himself to experience Chinese culture," he was quoted as saying.

Having lived in China for seven years and speaking fluent Putonghua, Ndesandjo said at the launch of his first novel earlier this month that he hoped Obama would appreciate the importance Chinese people attach to family.

"I would encourage not only my brother President Obama, but also American people, (to understand) that China is about family. Family is always a recurrent theme here," he said in his first address to the media since Obama was elected last year.

The half-brother, who reportedly runs a business consultancy in Shenzhen, last met Obama when he visited the United States during the presidential election.

At the book launch, Ndesandjo also spoke of his relationship with his abusive father and how Obama's election victory helped him come to terms with his unhappy childhood.

"My father beat me. He beat my mother. You just do not do that," he said as tears ran down his cheeks.

But he said his emotional hardness towards his family "peeled away" after he saw the hope in the eyes of Obama's supporters on election night at Chicago's Grant Park.

Obama's Kenyan father and American mother separated when Obama was just two and the president has spoken about the problems children face growing up with an absent father.

Ndesandjo said he would publish his autobiography in the next few months.

Join our Facebook fan page Follow us on Twitter

AFP

RSS
Digg
de.li.cious
facebook
NEWS FEATURES
Summing up Selebi's trial Getting lost in the Selebi trial? Read our nifty little summary of the first four weeks...
I beg your pardon Adriaan Vlok, Allan Boesak, Schabir Shaik Schabir Shaik isn't the first South African criminal who has attempted to get a clean slate.
Visit our politics page Need the latest political news, features, interviews and profiles? Visit our dedicated page...