BEIJING - Chinese scientists have succeeded in the first phase of a clinical trial of an HIV vaccine and will launch the second stage in a few months, according to the country's leading disease control expert.

Shao Yiming, chief expert of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, told China Daily that the second phase of experiments on the vaccine, which has been approved by the national drug administration, "is likely to start in three or four months".

Work on the HIV vaccine was one of the 16 major science and technology projects that made significant progress during the nation's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).