<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Canada Seeks Explanation for China's Quarantining of Students</span>
Two Americans Quarantined in China, Two Others Released
* AMERICAS NEWS * MAY 5, 2009, 3:47 A.M. ET
By SHAI OSTER
BEIJING – Canadian officials are trying to find out why 22 university students with no apparent flu symptoms have been held in quarantine in a northeastern Chinese city since arriving there over the weekend, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Beijing said Tuesday.
The 22 Canadians, part of a larger group of nearly 30 language students traveling on a program from the University of Montreal, were put into quarantine shortly after getting off a plane in Changchun, in the northern Chinese province of Jilin Saturday.
Officials at the Canadian embassy in Beijing have <span style='color:red'>been in touch with</span> the students and Chinese authorities, but there is no indication yet why only the Canadian students were singled out from the passengers on the flight if there were no symptoms present.
"Clarifications have been requested <span style='color:red'>in connection with</span> this quarantine, the purpose and nature. Why were the students placed in quarantine when there are no symptoms?" said Patrice Cousineau, head of public affairs for the Canadian embassy in Beijing.
As of Monday, Canada had 140 cases of the A/H1N1 flu that appeared to start in Mexico, but no deaths. In Mexico, the epicenter of the epidemic, authorities were easing restrictions as the infection rate appeared to slow down. The World Health Organization said Mexico had 590 confirmed cases including 25 deaths.
<span style='color:red'>Seprately</span>(shoud be separately), a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said that two U.S. citizens are currently being quarantined by Chinese health authorities because of concerns about the flu outbreak, and two others who were quarantined have been released.
The four Americans were held in quarantine because they had shown symptoms when getting off of recent flights into China, or because they had been <span style='color:red'>in proximity to</span> "someone of concern," said Susan Stevenson, the embassy spokeswoman.
Two of the four were held in Beijing, the other two in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, Ms. Stevenson said. It isn't clear which two have been released.
Meanwhile, a diplomatic scuffle was easing as a group of Mexican citizens held in quarantine across China prepared to go home Tuesday aboard a specially chartered plane. China and Mexico reached an agreement on repatriating citizens stranded by the A/H1N1 virus that has hit Mexico hardest but spread worldwide.
The arrangement was reached after Mexico sharply criticized Chinese authorities for quarantining Mexican nationals, most without symptoms and some not even on flights flight from infected areas.
Some 200 Chinese citizens were also to leave Mexico on a special flight to return home.
source: <a href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1241502 ... #printMode' target='_blank'>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1241502 ... intMode</a>
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scuffle: confused struggle between people who are close together
stranded: a person or vehicle that is stranded is unable to move from the place where they are
加拿大在华留学生22人上周六抵达长春被隔离，本周二（即本日5号）加方外交人员提出质疑，称该批22人团体并未发现有猪流感症状。与此相对应的是：1）美国方面亦有四人被隔离，新闻中称这是两起不相关事件，并且美方并未提出疑问；2）墨西哥在华部分人士因流感疑似而被隔离引起了两国外交方面的摩擦，新闻中提到经由墨方批评后中方遣返了墨方人员。通过对比可知新闻似乎希望为加拿大方面树立一个墨式榜样。