The Comprehensive AIDS Research Center (CARC), which was set up four days before the World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, marks Tsinghua's further involvement in the global fight against AIDS, Ho said at an inauguration ceremony Tuesday.

    Ho said he would lead the center to become one of the world's foremost institutions in fighting the killer epidemic.

    "We will encourage academic innovation, pursue excellence and dedicate ourselves to the battle against AIDS," he said.

    The center will engage in research in AIDS-related epidemiology, diagnosis, pathology, anti-AIDS medication and vaccine development.

    It will also carry out research on AIDS-related public policy, public awareness campaigns, and legal and ethical issues.

    The institution was jointly established by Tsinghua's School of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Journalism and Communication and School of Medicine. It also incorporated a policy research center which was established by the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

    David Da-i Ho, 55, is a Taiwan-born American. He was named "Manof the Year" by Time magazine in 1996 for his leadership in developing a therapeutic cocktail of protease inhibitors for HIV carriers in the earliest stage of infection.

    The treatment remains one of the most effective ways to control HIV and slow down the speed at which HIV carriers fall ill.

    Statistics show that China had 183,733 officially registered HIV/AIDS cases as of Oct. 31, 2006, but experts from the Ministry of Health and international organizations estimate as many as 650,000 Chinese people were living with the virus and the number could only rise.

    Chinese capital Beijing registered 973 new HIV/AIDS cases in the ten months this year, a jump of more than 50 percent over the same period last year