The move to pay for AIDS testing and medical consultations follows a nationwide plan announced Monday to distribute condoms in entertainment venues and hand out clean syringes to drug addicts.

Beijing would foot the bill for voluntary "testing and consultation in AIDS-stricken areas" while provincial governments in other areas would have to pay for themselves, the official Xinhua news agency said.

"This is to identify the most possible positive individuals, and thus control the spread of the disease," the report quoted a health ministry official as saying.

Most HIV-infected Chinese are from high-risk groups, including drug users, blood sellers and prostitutes.

But the disease is also spreading to other sectors of the population and is growing at a sharp rate of 30 percent a year.

The government estimates there are 840,000 people infected with HIV/AIDS, but international experts believe the total number of infections is much higher and have warned there could be 10 million cases by 2010.

Activists say nearly 90 percent of those infected do not know they have the disease.

TERRA.WIRE