Asahi: Hu shows mettle in pingpong friendly
Chinese President Hu Jintao went up against a formidable opponent in Tokyo on Thursday: Japanese Olympian Ai Fukuhara. 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...As a security measure, most Waseda students were not informed of the event in advance... 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...more...
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