6, Beijing sees its first imported SARS case, thus entering a four-month fight against the deadly virus.

18, President Hu Jintao holds phone conversations with U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Jacques Chirac, respectively. On the Iraq crisis, Hu said China preferred peace to war and stressed that the door toward peace should not be closed. To settle the Iraq crisis politically within the UN framework is the only proper means, according to the Chinese president.