Twenty-five University of Montreal students have been quarantined in China as a preventative measure against swine flu. (CBC)The Canadian government has sent a "diplomatic note" to Chinese authorities asking for clarification following the weekend quarantine of 25 students from the University of Montreal.

"We are deeply concerned with this event there," said Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, in an interview with CBC News Tuesday.

"At this current time, we cannot see the reason why they should be in quarantine since they have shown no symptoms."

Consular officials have spoken to some of the students "and at the current time, they have expressed that they have been treated well," he said.

But the government believes the students "should be released immediately," if there is no medical urgency, Obhrai said.

His comments come as the 25 quarantined students enter Day 3 of their forced isolation, imposed by Chinese authorities amid fears about the potential spread of swine flu.

Students are fine despite minimal contact with Canadian consulate

The students are being "well-treated," but Chinese officials cut short a meeting with Canadian consular officials, one of them told CBC News on Tuesday.

The University of Montreal students — who travelled to the densely populated country last week to learn Chinese — were pulled aside by provincial officials in Changchun after their plane landed in the northeastern city on Saturday.

In a telephone interview from quarantine, Jacob Homel said the hotel where they are staying was a "relatively comfortable setting," but the students were only allowed to speak in person with the Canadian consular official who visited the hotel on Tuesday for about four minutes.

"He was about 10 feet away from us at all times," Homel said. "The government officials were always trying to push him out as quickly as possible."

Despite the heightened fears of Chinese officials that the group could transmit the H1N1 virus, none of the students is feeling sick and no doctors have examined them two days into the unexpected seven-day quarantine, Homel said.

"We take our temperature three times a day," he said. "The hotel staff have been checking us out, but no doctors."

The consular official phoned the students after the brief visit to say he was sorry for the whole situation, but he was told he would have to be quarantined if he came in to close contact them, Homel said.

Group becoming Ping-Pong pros

Homel, son of Montreal writer-translator David Homel and illustrator Mary-Louise Gay, has been in regular phone and email contact with his parents. He said his father's first reaction to the quarantine was to ask him if he had brought a notebook.

"We've all been kind of laughing about it," he said. "They keep telling me, 'Write it down, write it down.' "

Due to the media scrutiny over the global swine flu outbreak, Homel said the fear shown by Chinese officials over it spreading to China is "completely understandable."

"Although for us to suffer, it's kind of a shame," he said.

"We haven't received direct explanations at all but we're trying to, of course, understand their point of view in the situation and we're doing our best to just deal with it."

The students are eventually heading to the Northeast China Normal University. Until then, the group is learning to pass the time.

"We have a Ping-Pong table, which we've all learned to play very well," he said.