Hu shows mettle in pingpong friendly

Chinese President Hu Jintao went up against a formidable opponent in Tokyo on Thursday: Japanese Olympian Ai Fukuhara.

Meets his match? Chinese President Hu Jintao plays against table tennis star Ai Fukuhara at Waseda University in Tokyo on Thursday. (POOL)

In the closest he got to pingpong diplomacy, Hu played a friendly rally with Ai-chan, 19, who ensured that he had his moments.

Earlier, in a speech at Waseda University, Hu, 65, stressed the importance to China of improved relations with Japan.

The speech was co-sponsored by the university, the Foreign Ministry and friendship organizations.

In contrast to his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who dwelled heavily on the history issue during a speech he gave at Waseda in 1998, Hu stressed the future of relations between the two Asian powers.

As a security measure, most Waseda students were not informed of the event in advance.

While a crowd of students gathered outside the university auditorium where the speech was held, only about 200 seats were set aside for Waseda students in the auditorium that seats 900 or so people.

A number of protesters demanding Tibetan independence had to shout out their slogans over cheers from Chinese students who greeted Hu.

After the speech, Hu tried a different approach to improving bilateral ties by playing table tennis with Fukuhara and others from Japan and China.

While Hu showed off a smash or two, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda could only stand by and watch, apparently taken aback at Hu's ability.

Earlier in the day, Hu met with four former prime ministers to discuss bilateral issues.

Yasuhiro Nakasone said, "While there are many bilateral issues concerning Japan and China, we have to resolve them in a cordial manner."

Shinzo Abe stressed the need to improve the human rights conditions of Tibetans.

While the breakfast meeting involved former prime ministers from the Liberal Democratic Party, Junichiro Koizumi was noticeable for his absence.

Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine caused bilateral relations to plummet to their lowest level in decades.(IHT/Asahi: May 9,2008)