However, the reality is that the incidence of some of the chronic diseases related to smoking has become more frequent and the number of tobacco-related deaths continues to increase. Direct and indirect economic losses caused by smoking have further increased and smoking has already become the biggest threat to the health of both smokers and the 700 million-strong passive smoking population.

To curb this momentum, it is suggested that the Chinese government should adopt a comprehensive tobacco control strategy in its 12th Five-Year Plan. It should introduce active measures to transform China from the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer, into a country with a series of viable tobacco control measures in place. To this end, the government should make some open commitments to comprehensive tobacco control to highlight their long-cherished "people first" concept and the idea that people's health is placed high on the government's agenda.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress should make regular reviews of the implementation of the FCTC by the State Council and its relevant State agencies and make public the results. Also, a comprehensive tobacco control target should be included in the government's 12th Five-Year Plan as one of the key indices to measure whether governments at various levels are working for people's heath.

The country should also promulgate a law that bans smoking in public places as soon as possible, in a bid to control the damage caused by passive and secondhand smoking. At the same time, a national tobacco control agency should be set up under the National Development and Reform Commission or the Ministry of Health to undertake specific administrative functions to facilitate the country's tobacco control campaign.

Hu An'gang is director of the Center for China Study under Tshinghua University and Hu Linlin is a researcher with School of Public Policy and Management also underTsinghua University.

(China Daily October 15, 2010)