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As tension mounts with the United States' escalating threat of war on Iraq, books about the Persian Gulf region or explaining American and Iraqi military strength have become bestsellers in the Chinese capital.

In the Xidan Books Building, Beijing's largest bookstore, a special counter called "Focus on the Gulf" was opened on Feb.9 to "meet the growing demand of readers", said a shop assistant named Qin.

The counter, at a corner on the building's ground floor, sells 25 kinds of books on the Gulf region, such as "Influential People in the Middle East" and "A Complete History of the Gulf War", as well as maps of the region.

Though not covering a large area, the counter has been crowded since its opening, with some 40 books sold every day. Many readers stay for hours as the bookstore allows free reading of the books on shelves, said Qin.

"I believe the possibility for a war is more than 80 percent," said a reader in his 30s, who only gave his surname Wu. "The United States has already deployed huge forces in the Gulf region and it will attack Iraq both for the control of the region's petroleum and for stimulating domestic ordnance production."

The Xinhua Bookstore at Wangfujing, another leading commercial center of Beijing, also set up a new counter called "Gulf and Peace" on Feb.10 to attract "military fans" and cash in on the latest "Gulf fever".

The more than 30 new varieties of books on the counter include such titles as "Baghdad Under the War Clouds", "Special Forces of the U.S. Army" and "Inside Stories about the U.S. Army".

Here, a reader surnamed Hou was more optimistic about the current situation than others.

"It's still very likely to achieve peace in the Gulf region, as France, Russia and some other countries are not on the USA' side and are still mediating actively, and Iraq is also making constant efforts to meet the demand of the United Nations," he said.