Mexico out of China trade fair amid swine flu flap

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Mexico's government on Sunday called China's treatment of its citizens unacceptable and said it would not participate in a Shanghai trade fair in a dispute over anti-swine flu measures adopted by the Asian giant. Already angered by China's quarantining of dozens of Mexican travelers, flight cancellations and a ban on its pork imports, Mexican officials said China had withdrawn Mexico's "guest of honor" status at the May 19-21 food fair. It was part of a wider series of snubs by many nations that has left Mexico - once the epicenter of the swine flu epidemic, but now surpassed in total cases by the United States - feeling unfairly singled out. "The recently adopted measures by fair organizers and the Chinese government are unacceptable," said a statement from ProMexico, the government's agency that promotes foreign trade. Thirty Mexican companies had planned to participate.