Chinese Official Urges to Curb HIV/AIDSVice-Premier Li Lanqing has urged government officials to pay close attention to HIV/AIDS control, noting this is vital to the future of the Chinese nation.Li, who called a State Council meeting on prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) on Monday, said that governments and officials at all levels should regard this work as "a strategic issue of vital importance to the nation's fortune and state development." Confirmed HIV/AIDS cases throughout China totaled 17,316 by the end of last year, including 647 fully developed AIDS patients, among whom 356 died, according to the Ministry of Health. But Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang noted that HIV infection has in fact exceeded 500,000 people scattered in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China because most cases are not reported. Health experts warn that outbreak of STDs could make HIV/AIDS control even more formidable. The number of confirmed STD cases hit a record 836,655 last year, a rise of 30 percent over 1998. However, estimates put the real figure at above four million. Vice-Premier Li has called for the thorough implementation of a national program of HIV/AIDS control, with the goal of keeping China's HIV infection level under 1.5 million people by the year 2010, while ending the transmission of HIV through blood transfusions and intravenous drug use. It was also determined that the annual increase rate of the incidence of STDs should be under 15 percent by 2002, compared with from 20 to 30 percent at present. Four killers of German Family to Face Fast Trial Three of the four confessed killers of a German family in China face execution after a trial likely to take place soon, a police official said on Tuesday. "They will be tried as quickly as possible - probably this month," the official said from the eastern province of Jiangsu two days after automobile executive Jurgen Pfrang, his wife and two children were killed. Four farmers, aged between 19 and 23 years from a community near the Pfrang villa on the outskirts of Nanjing, were arrested at the house after a security guard saw one clambering down a drainpipe and called the police. Police official said one of the farmers was apparently outside when the killings occured in the early hours of Sunday morning and would probably face a long jail term. "The other three will probably be shot," he said, stressing he was expressing a personal opinion. Police made a videotape of the crime scene for use as evidence in the trial, the official said. Prfang, 51, who worked for DaimlerChrysler, his 39-year old wife, 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son were killed by the burglars. It is the most violent crime against foreigners in China in these years. |
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