Premier Wen Jiabao met some Chinese experts on the study and control of HIV/AIDS last Friday and pledged that the government will try to prevent the spread of the deadly disease with consideration of the country's own situation.

During his recent study tour in central China's Hubei Province, the premier paid a special visit to Professor Gui Xi'en, a noted HIV/AIDS expert with the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan City, the provincial capital.

Wen praised the expert for his contribution in fighting the disease. Gui and his colleagues spoke out their views on the issue, and Gui urged the government to bring HIV/AIDS under control by creating greater awareness about the disease among the public, fighting drug addiction, and protecting infants from being infected by their HIV-carrying mothers.

The government has given top priority to HIV/AIDS and other deadly epidemics like SARS, hepatitis-B and schistosomiasis, the premier said, adding that the government plans to publish official figures of HIV carriers and AIDS patients.

The government will increase its allocations for fighting the disease and continue to offer free treatment for people who have been infected by the virus, free and anonymous medical checks for those who are suspected to have been infected by the virus, free-of-charge efforts to separate infants from their HIV-carrying mothers, and financial assistance for orphans left by parents who have died of AIDS, according to the premier.

Wen urged the whole society to give more care to AIDS patients and never look down on them. He pledged to cut off the sources of the virus in the fields of blood transmission, fight prostitution to curb sex-related spreading of HIV, step up the anti-drug efforts, and popularize knowledge and ways for the prevention of HIV/AIDS among the public.

Efforts should be made to improve the cultural and ethical quality of the whole people, especially the rural population, he said.

Local discipline inspection officials told to perform duties

A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has asked departments for discipline inspection at all levels of the country to fully perform their duties and step up supervision.

The request was made by Wu Guanzheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, during a study tour to northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from June 9 to 15.

Discipline inspection officials should strictly abide by national laws and CPC disciplines so as to serve the fundamental interests of the people, he said.

"Firm actions should be taken to crack down upon separatist forces, religious extremist forces and terrorist forces so as to safeguard national unification, enhance national unity and maintain social stability," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2004)