China, Mexico begin picking up stranded citizens, new row looms+

BEIJING, May 5 Kyodo -
China began retrieving nationals stranded in Mexico on Tuesday to ward off a
diplomatic row with Mexico over China's strict Influenza A (H1N1) measures,
even as a new row with Canada threatens.
A Chinese charter flight that left Shanghai late Monday to retrieve stranded
Chinese nationals in Mexico has touched down in Mexico City, state television
said Tuesday.
CCTV said the China Southern Airlines flight landed slightly before 3 p.m.
Beijing time and will fly back some 100 Chinese who have been stuck there after
China suspended flights from Mexico last weekend.
The flight is expected to return to Shanghai early Wednesday and the passengers
are likely to be put in week-long quarantine, it said.
State media earlier reported that China had to cancel a charter flight to
Mexico on Sunday because its airline was unable to reach a landing arrangement
with the Mexican side.
Both countries came to agreement Monday to allow chartered flights to retrieve
their citizens stuck in the two countries.
A charter flight from Mexico on Tuesday also began picking up Mexican travelers
under quarantine in Shanghai, Xinhua news agency reported.
The charter went on to Beijing where Chinese health authorities have isolated
some Mexicans at hotels, and will go on to pick up more Mexicans in Guangzhou
and Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, Gabriel Leung, the undersecretary for food and health, said the
Mexican consul general has promised to apply strict quarantine measures on
transferring four of the 12 Mexicans boarding the charter flight Tuesday night.
The four, two of them quarantined in hospital and two in a hotel sealed off
since last week due to flu fear, are friends of a 25-year-old Mexican man who
remains in stable condition in hospital and whom the government refuses to
release until his quarantine period ends Friday.
''From the hotel or hospital to the Hong Kong airport, onboard the flight and
from the Mexico airport to the quarantine facilities there, the entire process
will be under quarantine,'' Leung said. ''Inside the flight, quarantined
individuals and non-quarantined individuals will also be separated.''
He said no one aboard the charter flight from China will be allowed to leave
the plane when it lands in Hong Kong, so it does not constitute public health
risk.
Food and Health Secretary York Chow said the confirmed flu patient will not be
discharged until he is found no longer infectious, adding, the patient ''is not
at that stage yet.''
As well, some 300 guests and staff continue to be isolated in the Metropark
Hotel Wanchai for the fourth day of a week-long quarantine.
Apart from losing freedom and time, some have complained about the food and
hygiene at the hotel.
''Our thanks and apologies go in particular to those in Metropark Hotel,'' Hong
Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said. ''This is for the protection of your as
much as the Hong Kong people's health. Meanwhile, we ask for your patience.''
As many as 70 Mexicans are believed to have been put under isolation in other
Chinese cities as a result of precautionary measures imposed by the Chinese
government over the flu threat, prompting a row with Mexico over actions Mexico
charged are discriminatory.
China had in response said the quarantines were a necessary health measure for
passengers who had traveled with a Mexican man later confirmed as Hong Kong's
first case of the new-type flu, and said its actions were ''not targeting
Mexican citizens'' and were not ''discriminatory.''
It called for Mexico to be understanding of its actions, and to treat the issue
with ''objectivity and calm.''
''There are other countries that are taking similar actions like China, so I
don't think China is standing out in this respect,'' said World Health
Organization China representative Hans Troedsson in a report by Xinhua.
In addition to the suspension of flights and the quarantines, China also
slapped a ban on pork imports from several flu-affected countries, including
Mexico.
On Sunday, it extended the ban to pork imports from Alberta Province in Canada
after it reported that some pigs there had been found with the flu strain.
In response, Canada threatened to take the issue up with the World Trade
Organization unless China withdraws the ban.
Trying to defending the ban, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu
said Tuesday the Chinese government had to enact ''preventive and protective
measures'' to protect domestic agriculture and the health of the population.
Ma claimed China's emergency measures were in compliance with guidelines laid
down by the World Organization for Animal Health and the WTO, pointing out that
several countries had also taken similar action.
He also confirmed that 25 Canadian students who arrived Saturday in Changchun
in northeast China's Jilin Province are under week-long medical observation in
the city and have displayed no flu symptoms so far.
''Presently, this batch of foreign students have been properly settled in a
hotel in Changchun city, and relevant Chinese departments have made proper and
considerate arrangements for their accommodation, food, health checks, etc.,''
Ma said, adding the Canadian Embassy has been notified.
No flu symptoms have been found among any of those quarantined in China.
==Kyodo
2009-05-05 22:39:52