One of China's leading AIDS researchers warned last week that, if the country does not move to combat the disease, it could soon face a “national disaster”, with the largest number of AIDS cases in the world.

According to the China News Agency, Zeng Yi, the director of the Institute of Demographical Research at the University of Beijing, told a meeting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that AIDS threatened all the gains made since the country's economic reforms and opening up to the West. But, he said, China has dragged its feet in its efforts to control the accelerating spread of HIV infection.

Zeng added that, among other things, there was a lack of investment in scientific research, and that the attitude of some officials was hampering prevention work. He told the academy that one researcher had been fired because local officials believed that, by revealing the AIDS situation in their region, he had made them look bad and hurt the region's image.