initiative. japan/u.s. alliance has reached new heights. together with president obama, i shall firmly advance these steps. thank you. >> so we have two questions on each side. we'll start with laura mcguinness from reuters. >> president obama, could you confirm whether the blind chinese disdenied chen guangcheng, would the united states grant him asylum? and prime minister noda, how would japan respond to a nuclear test and what would you like the u.s. to do to respond? >> obviously, i'm aware of the press reports on the situation in china. but i'm not going to make a statement on the issue.