IN BEIJING

THE RECENT diplomatic spat between Mexico and China over the latter's tough quarantine measures to curb a H1N1 flu virus outbreak has become one of the hot topics of conversation among Chinese.

Squeeze into a crowded train - where only a solitary one or two people don masks - and the chit-chat invariably includes an exchange about how terrible it would be if swine flu (nobody seems quite bothered about using its formal name H1N1) broke out in populous China.

"Why are the Mexicans kicking up a fuss about (China's quarantine measures being a form of) discrimmination? The safety of 1.3 billion Chinese people is more important than Mexican dignity," muttered one man to his companion while they read a newspaper plastered with pictures of the Southern Airlines plane that flew to Mexico to collect Chinese nationals, and an aeromexican plane docked in Shanghai to pick up quarantined Mexcian nationals.

SOURCE: AP

SOURCE: AP

SOURCE: AP

Hop into a cab in Beijing and the conversation with the "shifu" usually dredges up a personal account of how the SARS outbreak in 2003 had created pandemonium in the city - and across China - when government officials finally admitted to the full scale of the crisis.

"We were so scared then, and many of us were put in some form of quarantine too," said one driver, Mr Zhang.

"We were shunned by foreigners...and now they are getting a taste of what it's like to be quarantined.

“The Chinese bore with the measures during the SARS period patiently without making noise...and look at how much noise the foreigners are making about staying in a hotel for a week."

Chinese netizens, while overwhelmingly supportive of the government's measures to make sure the H1N1 virus doesn't infiltrate China's densely populated cities, have divergent views about how China should have dealt with the quarantine.

But voices urging moderation have emerged: "I think we should be careful not to just jump on any Mexican or American or Canadian national who enters China and immediately quarantine them - if done badly ("gao by hao"), China could look like a ruffian," one blogger wrote.

Meanwhile, Mr Yang Ya Nan, a waiter at a Mexican restaurant in the Chaoyang district of Beijing, is more disturbed by the Chinese' indiscrimminate discrimmination against Mexican food.

"There has been a sharp drop in customers since May 1," he lamented, noting that there was hardly a single customer during the usually crowded lunch hour and just a handful at dinner time.

"And the customers all avoid pork. The irony is: this is Chinese pork, not Mexican!"