Ants march onto Chinese parliament agenda

Along with such weighty issues as an anti-secession law and a leadership transition, China’s parliament also weighed the threat of invasion on Sunday — by red ants.

Hong Kong has been battling to stop the spread of the ants, whose fiery sting can be fatal to humans, since they were first found in the southern territory in January.

Then the insects were found to have moved north into the neighboring province of Guangdong.

“Prompt, effective measures should be taken to stop hazardous red fire ants from making inroads into north China where the national capital of Beijing is located,” Xinhua news agency quoted a delegate to parliament as saying on Sunday.

Will border checks stop invasion?
Zhang Zhongning proposed thorough border checks to keep the ants from marching into the heart of Beijing.

“The fire ants can bring huge damage to cropland and electrical wires,” said Zhang, a scientist from the Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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The Agriculture Ministry lists fire ants as one of 85 destructive pests that have prompted import quarantine checks.

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Zhang called for quarantine controls to be tightened to resist the invasion.

“The pests are likely to survive in south, east, central and southwestern China and some areas in North China,” he said.

The red fire ant, which originated in South America, has defied efforts to stamp it out in Australia and the United States.