"The potential for the disease to spread to other
continents is real and the international scientific
community cannot remain insensitive to the challenge of
preventing this happening," OIE Director-General Bernard
Vallat told a conference in Paris.
The H5N1 influenza virus, which has killed people in
Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia since it hit Asia in
2003, has also devastated trade and led to the
destruction of tens of millions of chickens and other
birds across the region.
A strain of the disease has recently surfaced in North
Korea, causing a cull of hundreds of thousands of
chickens.
Experts fear that if the H5N1 virus mutated into a more
contagious form, it might unleash a global flu pandemic
that could kill millions of people.
Vallat said the best way to control the disease was to
tackle it at source, with a combination of culling and
vaccines.
end of quotes
Isn't' it bizarre to see that
ReplyDeletedemonstrators can strike
wherever they want in such
country as China? Is the old
CCP guards still angry at Hu
and Wen and infuriated at
Japan UNSC attempt. Are
these strikes "political
activities" pre-organized.
Police closed to the crowds.
Anyone arrested ? Are
Universities there under
lecturing by Party promising
activists. Japanese media
coverage was quite a surprise
too. This piece from the CSM
is quite interesting on the
contrary:
Quotes :
"Take a big knife and chop
off head of Japanese devil."
Not since 1985, when the then
Japanese prime minister
visited the Yasukuni Shrine,
has Beijing allowed such a
demonstration.
While described as a
spontaneous rally, the
organized nature of the
Saturday protest seemed
apparent to some observers.
Areas for press, protesters,
and riot police were taped
off. Movement was carefully
organized: crowds were sent
past the Japanese Embassy,
then to buses to usher them
out. One policeman told an
approaching reporter that a
detour was necessary, since
"political activity" had been
scheduled.
A seat for Japan on the
Security Council would alter
China's current status as the
only Asian member of the
council. While Beijing has
supported multilateralism in
much of the world, it has
been reluctant to do so in
Asia, its closest sphere of
influence.
Here, most of the
relationships between
neighboring states and
Beijing are bilateral.
Some Western diplomats say
that while China has shown
its unpredictability, Tokyo
continues to give its
neighbors a target. "Japan
has a problem with its
neighbors and its neighbors
all say so," notes a senior
Western diplomat. "Yet they
are solid allies of
Washington. We still don't
know which way China is
going."
One protester said he was
embarrassed that his friends
were throwing bottles at the
Embassy.
"I was at the American
embassy in 1999 [when it was
attacked after the accidental
bombing of the Chinese
embassy in Belgrade] and I
asked my friends not to throw
things at that time, too."
end of quotes
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0411