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In his speech at the prestigious university, Hu tried to calm Japanese fears over China's growing military might. "China has taken a defensive military policy and will not engage in any arms race," he said. "We will not become a military threat to any country and we will never assert hegemony or be expansionistic."
The theme of the visit is "mutual benefit," as both Chinese and Japanese leaders hope that warming ties between them will help ease pressures they are facing on domestic or international fronts. Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda Wednesday signed a joint communique stressing their "strategic relations for mutual benefit"' following their summit meeting in Tokyo.
This is the first state visit by a Chinese head of state to Japan in a decade, a period that has been characterized by progress in trade and investment as well as controversy over history and turbulence in diplomacy.
After a one-and-a-half-hour talk, the two leaders declared they were ready to strengthen their mutually-beneficial relations and to "look back at history directly and go forward to the future." The communique and more than a dozen other minor agreements will serve certain political, economic and other interests of one side or the other.
For Japan, which is to chair the G8 Summit in two months time, the Chinese leader expressed appreciation for Japan's initiatives in reducing carbon emissions and expressed interest in joining the global framework after 2013.
Hu also positively evaluated Japan's role at the United Nations, describing Japan's post-war path as that of a peaceful nation and praising its contributions to the world through peaceful means.
For China, the signed communique itself was an achievement of a recent diplomatic offensive, as the leadership is desperate to get beyond the negative aftermath of the latest Tibet incidents and create a positive atmosphere for the summer Olympics in Beijing.
The Japanese side also offered the highest appraisal of China's global status, saying that both countries had had a major impact on peace, stability and development in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.
Mindful of China's current anxiety over the Olympics Games in August, Fukuda at the subsequent joint press conference voiced strong support for the Games, referring to them as "Asia's third festival for peace."
For the sake of the success of such an important event, Fukuda advised Hu to be mindful that the world's attention is on the behavior of the Chinese government and people. "I wish it will be something that the whole world can appreciate," Fukuda said.
In spite of the grand expressions of peace and friendship, the absence of substantial achievement through the leaders' meeting was acutely clear.
For instance, despite the Chinese leader's insistence, the Japanese side reportedly did not agree to the inclusion in the communiqué of a phrase declaring "opposition to Taiwan's independence." Instead, the document only repeats the same one-China principle declared 36 years ago in the Japan China Joint Communique.
On the other hand, few of Japan's immediate concerns were addressed, including China's unilateral exploration of offshore gas fields in the East China Sea, investigation into poisoned China-made frozen dumplings, or China's military expansion, which Japan's defense white book has begun describing as a "threat."
The largest-circulation Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun on Sunday carried a front-page commentary headlined "Japan China relations are not mutually beneficial."
Well-known social critic Masayuki Yamauchi of Tokyo University judged that Japan has gained little from China in terms of confidence building. Aside from business exchanges, relations are not mutually beneficial, especially on issues like the East China Sea gas fields or Japan's interest in a U.N. Security Council seat, he wrote.
Sharply different in political ideologies and international alliances, both countries had to focus on the economic merits of their relationship, as demonstrated in the slogan "separation between politics and economics" adopted at the time the two countries normalized relations in 1972.
Now after 36 years, China has become the No.1 trading partner for Japan and Japan No.2 for China -- still on a fragile political base, as if the slogan has become reality.
Trying to shine a brighter light on an otherwise colorless visit, President Hu, during his first direct encounter with the Japanese Emperor at the Imperial Palace Wednesday morning, announced that a pair of Chinese pandas would be loaned to a Tokyo zoo where the only surviving panda had died a few days before.
But, having encountered many realities of modern China under the Communist Party, Japan is no longer the nation of three decades ago, which could be excited by a panda.