China has set up an interdepartmental mechanism, as well as optimizing laws and regulations, to protect women from domestic violence, Meng Xiaosi, vice-president of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), said Thursday.

At a ceremony in Beijing marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Meng, however, warned that violence against women and children was still widespread.

According to a 2007 ACWF survey, domestic violence existed in 30 percent of the 270 million Chinese families, with over 85 percent of the sufferers being women.

About 100,000 Chinese families break up each year as a result of domestic violence, the ACWF said.

At the ceremony, Jiang Yue, a law professor at Xiamen University, said domestic violence was present at random in the east and the less-developed west, as well as in rural and urban areas.

"There is no link between domestic violence and the level of economic development," she said.

Jiang also said domestic violence was allowed to spread because of the fact that China has no laws punishing non-criminal domestic violence and the belief that domestic violence is a private issue and the police should stay out it.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2010)