By Chong Zi and Qin Jize (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-09 06:58

TOKYO - President Hu Jintao stressed the importance of youth exchanges yesterday, inviting 100 students from Tokyo's Waseda University to visit China.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (Front R) plays table tennis with Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara (Front L) during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Japan-China youth friendly exchange year at the Waseda University in Tokyo, capital of Japan, May 8, 2008. [Xinhua]

He extended the invitation when delivering a speech at the prestigious university, saying the visit would be part of the ongoing China-Japan Friendly Exchange Year of the Youth.

"I hope that students here can join in the exchange project to visit China," Hu said.

"The youth should advance the world's civilization and contribute to mankind's prosperity," Hu quoted Waseda alumnus Li Dazhao, China's pioneering revolutionary early last century, as saying.

He called for a new era of partnership between Beijing and Tokyo in business, the environment and regional development.

(L to R) Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Chinese President Hu Jintao, and Chinese table tennis player Wang Nan pose for photograph after Hu's playing table tennis at Waseda University's Okuma Garden House in Tokyo May 8, 2008. [Agencies]

After the speech, Hu removed his glasses and jacket to play table tennis with Japanese star Ai Fukuhara, drawing loud cheers from spectators.

Hu made several smashes and beamed for the cameras as Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, 71, looked on.

"I'm glad I didn't take him on," Fukuda said. "He's a very strategic player."

   1 2 3   

   1 2 3