AP News In Brief At 5:58 P.m. EST

Obama prods China to take global role on big issues — sharing 'burden of leadership' with US

BEIJING (AP) — President Barack Obama declared Monday the world is urgently watching for a "meeting of the minds" between the U.S. and China as he meets with President Hu Jintao on the globe's biggest issues — climate change, economic recession, nuclear proliferation and more.

Obama also prodded China about Internet controls and free speech, but his message was not widely heard in the country because his words were drastically limited online and shown on just one regional television channel.

In his first visit here, Obama is strongly suggesting that China, now a giant in economic impact as well as territory, must take a bigger role on the world stage — part of "burden of leadership" it shares with the United States.

"I will tell you, other countries around the world will be waiting for us," Obama said in an American-style town-hall discussion with Chinese university students in Shanghai, where he spent a day before flying to China's capital for a state visit with President Hu.