Prime Minister Taro Aso met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday. His visit to China came after he made an offering to Yasukuni Shrine, Japan's war shrine. Although the Chinese side took up this sensitive issue, it managed to restrain itself and both sides concentrated on more pressing issues.
"Swine flu," officially known as influenza A(H1N1), topped the agenda now that infections have been confirmed in more than 10 countries. The leaders agreed to cooperate to prevent the spread of the influenza, which is at risk of becoming a pandemic now that human-to-human transmission has been confirmed. They also agreed to cooperate closely for early resumption of the six-party talks aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.
Despite agreeing to making efforts to resume the six-party talks, both Mr. Hu and Mr. Wen called for a coolheaded approach to North Korea. China, which has close ties with North Korea, should exert its influence to persuade Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks. After the United Nations Security Council condemned North Korea's April 5 rocket launch, Pyongyang said it was pulling out of the six-party talks and threatened Wednesday to carry out nuclear tests.