President Hu Jintao called his US counterpart Barack Obama over the phone Wednesday night to express sympathy for H1N1 victims in the US.

China is willing to strengthen coordination with the US, President Hu said, to check the spread of the deadly disease.

The Chinese government has started emergency measures to prevent a spread of the disease, said told Obama.

"We are willing to keep contact with the World Health Organization, the United States and other parties concerned, and strengthen cooperation to jointly confront this public health challenge," Hu said.

Obama thanked Hu for his concern, adding that his country has adopted effective measures against the disease and will continue to keep a close eye on the outbreak.

The US president said he was looking forward to meeting with Hu again during a meeting of leaders of the Group of Eight nations and developing countries in Italy. Obama said he was also looking forward to visiting China.

The two leaders met at the Group of 20 summit in London in early April.

They reached extensive consensus on the establishment of the mechanism of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues, joint efforts to tackle the international financial crisis, and enhanced coordination and cooperation on major global and regional issues.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2009)