For the first time, China has acknowledged that the spread of HIV/AIDS is on the increase in the country?s gay community, according to the China Youth Daily.

Speaking at an Aids conference last week, Vice-Health Minister Yin Dakui said preventing the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, would be a huge challenge because of the unknown number of homosexuals in China. He highlighted that China has to act fast in its fight against Aids in the long-ignored gay community.

While he could not provide accurate data on China's homosexuals, he felt the number was big enough to cause concern.

While no absolute figure was cited, the Health Ministry revealed that around 0.2 percent of the estimated total of Aids victims were traced to homosexual intercourse. It is the first time since 1985, when the first Aids case was reported in China that the ministry has disclosed any numbers.

According to official statistics, the total number of cases stands at 28,133 at the end of September this year. The United Nations however pegs the number at above 600,000 and warns that there will be more than 10 million who are HIV-positive by 2010.

Until now, China has been reluctant to discuss gay related issues; as a result, the gay community have not been a target group in safer sex awareness efforts.