【华尔街日报】China, Mexico Agree to Repatriate Nationals in Flu Row

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【原文标题】China, Mexico Agree to Repatriate Nationals in Flu Row
【原文链接】http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124144082682583111.html
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BEIJING -- China said Monday it reached an agreement with Mexico to use special charter flights to repatriate nationals affected by the flu outbreak, days after Mexican officials criticized Chinese health authorities' decision to quarantine scores of Mexican tourists and businessmen.


AFP/Getty Images
A Chinese security guard watches as Mexican ambassador Jorge Guajardo waits to enter a sealed-off hotel where Mexican nationals are being held under quarantine in Beijing on May 3.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on its Web site Monday that the two countries had reached an agreement on returning nationals home and were working out the details of the flights.

More than 70 Mexicans have been quarantined around China, according to Mexican officials. China has been rounding up all travelers who arrived Thursday in Shanghai aboard an AeroMéxico flight from Mexico with a 25-year-old Mexican man, who is now ill with human swine flu in Hong Kong. He is the only known Mexican sufferer in China to date. Mexicans on other flights say they also have been singled out for quarantining, despite showing no signs of illness and even though in some cases they flew to China from places other than Mexico, the country hardest hit by the current outbreak of A/H1N1 flu.

Meanwhile, Chinese travelers in Mexico have been trying to return home, too, but some flights have been canceled.

On Saturday, Mexico's foreign minister said Mexican nationals were being held in "unacceptable conditions." Chinese officials have denied the charge. "The measures are non-discriminative and not targeted at Mexican citizens. This is simply a hygienic inspection issue," Ma Zhaoxu, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in the transcript of an interview posted Monday on the ministry's Web site.

China Journal

China Quarantines Scores of MexicansSwine Flu Takes to the SkiesDispatches From Quarantine VillageDispatches From Metropark HotelIt was unclear from China's statement when the charter planes would be arriving. Mexican embassy officials had told people quarantined in a hotel in Beijing that a plane would be arriving as early as Tuesday. But one passenger in quarantine said that Chinese officials had told them that they might be released on Wednesday.

Ministry of Health officials didn't immediately reply to requests for comment.

"I don't condemn their concern to control this outbreak, I'm very sensitive to the SARS problem they had a few years ago," said Carlos Doormann, AeroMexico's finance director who is among those being held in a hotel in Beijing's outskirts where he was taken after arriving on the flight from Mexico Saturday. He was moved to the hotel along with his three young children and wife after first being taken to a hospital for infectious diseases.

"I can understand that, but I cannot understand how they can violate international treaties and all that. It's hard to understand what has been happening. What is their intention for having us here for seven days?" he said.

He said that embassy officials were ferrying Western food and toys for the children, and that embassy officials had been able to communicate with the stranded passengers.
China's handling of epidemics has been bumpy in the past, and the nation's close living quarters, primitive health-care network and vast population of hundreds of millions of migrant workers leave it extremely vulnerable to an epidemic outbreak.

In 2003, China went from at first denying the existence of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, to suddenly quarantining thousands as it fought to contain the outbreak.

Write to Shai Oster at shai.oster@wsj.com
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China Plans to Fly Mexicans Home
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124144082682583111.html

By SHAI OSTER MAY 5, 2009


Workers on Monday bring food to travelers quarantined at a Beijing hotel. Associated Press

BEIJING -- China said Monday it reached an agreement with Mexico to use special charter flights to repatriate nationals affected by the flu outbreak, after Mexican officials criticized Chinese health authorities' decision to quarantine scores of Mexican tourists and businessmen.

More than 70 Mexicans have been quarantined around China, according to Mexican officials. China has been rounding up all travelers who arrived Thursday in Shanghai aboard an AeroMéxico flight from Mexico with a 25-year-old Mexican man, who is now ill with human swine flu in Hong Kong.

Mexicans on other flights say they also have been singled out for quarantining, despite showing no signs of illness and even though in some cases they flew to China from places other than Mexico, the country hardest hit by the current outbreak of A/H1N1 flu.

Chinese officials have said the measures are "non-discriminative" and a "hygienic inspection issue."

Despite the tension, the move by China is unlikely to seriously damage relations between the nations, which are often tense given China's greater role in low-cost manufacturing that has made Mexico's economy less competitive and led to job losses over the years.

"I don't think this will lead to any cooling of relations," said Jorge Montaño, a former Mexican ambassador to Washington and the United Nations. Mr. Montaño said that Mexico had reacted correctly to China's "unacceptable" conduct. "Nobody denies their right to take whatever measures they want to take, but you can't humiliate other countries' citizens like they did."

The moves against Mexicans came even as Mexico itself appeared to be over the worst of the epidemic, with fewer cases being reported each passing day. Restaurants and other small businesses were set to reopen Wednesday, and high schools and universities on Thursday. Younger students were going to be kept out of school until May 11. The news caused Mexico's peso to surge more than 50 centavos to 13.30 to the dollar, while stocks were up; the IPC index rose more than 5% to 23014.05.

It was unclear from China's statement when the charter planes for returning nationals would arrive. Mexican embassy officials told people quarantined in a hotel in Beijing that a plane would be arriving as early as Tuesday.
—David Luhnow in Mexico City contributed to this article.

Write toShai Oster at shai.oster@wsj.com