OPINION: Spring sun over Sino-Japanese relations
The Jakarta Post, 15 May 2008. As the warm spring breeze sweeps through Northeast Asia, hopes are floating high along with President Hu Jintao's just concluded visit to Japan, the first by Chinese president in a decade. Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) toasts with Japanese Emperor Akihito during a state banquet at the Imperial palace in Tokyo The charming President Hu chatted warmly with Emperor Akihito, enthusiastically posed with teary-eyed Japanese ballerinas after their white-haired lady dance performance that was very popular many years ago in China, visited historic temples that bear ancient bilateral history and amicably told story of Tang Dynasty's great poet, Libai, in front of young Japanese students of Chinese language class. Hu also extended panda diplomacy by offering to lend two giant pandas to Tokyo Zoo, which just lost its 22-year-old "native" panda, Ling Ling. Ping-pong diplomacy followed when he skillfully cracked the bat with China's female