A Chinese couple wait in front of an AIDS awareness campaign poster at a subway station in Beijing, November 30, 2005.

China's health minister warned on Wednesday that the spread of AIDS could affect the nation's economic development and its "rise or decline," and stressed the need for strong prevention measures.

On the eve of World AIDS Day, Minister Gao Qiang said China aimed to keep the number of people infected by the HIV virus to below 1.5 million by 2010, a forecast sharply lower than some international estimates.