The Chinese government yesterday urged its citizens to get tested for HIV, as activists warned the country faced another Aids crisis surrounding people who contracted the disease from blood transfusions. And a a UN International Labour Organisation study published yesterday said globalisation is a factor in the spread of Aids as it causes workers to relocate more often and marginalises the pooor.

The world's 12.3 million forced labourers - of whom 2.5 million are the victims of human trafficking - are among those most at risk, according to the study.

"We encourage our citizens to have HIV virus tests in qualified institutions," Chinese Health Minister Gao Qiang told a news conference on the eve of World Aids Day.

"We don't want to see the scenario... where a mother who got Aids passes it to her child."

It was the first time a top government official had called on citizens to get tested, which a Western Aids expert working in China said was a step forward.

The Chinese government admitted for the first time in 2001 that the nation had an Aids problem, while also acknowledging a scandal involving poor farmers getting the disease from selling blood in state-approved schemes.

But it has said little about those who contracted Aids from the nation's unsafe blood supply, which activists say is a growing concern.

Pope Benedict said he felt close to victims of Aids and encouraged efforts to find a cure for the killer disease but avoided the thorny issue of the Roman Catholic Church's ban on condoms.

Britain marked World Aids Day yesterday by announcing it was contributing £27.5 million to the global fight against the disease. Blair said £20m would go to the International Aids Vaccine Initiative and £7.5m toward developing microbicides that could protect against HIV.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Chinese child performs near the words 'Concern about AIDS, involves everyone' during a ceremony to mark World AIDS day in Beijing, China, Thursday, Dec 1, 2005. (AP)