China's Health Ministry admitted Monday that it has a long way to go in tobacco control, amid criticism of the country's failure to honor its commitments to the World Health Organization (WHO).

China was the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer, and tobacco control was a complicated social activity, which involved political, economic and health sectors, said ministry spokesman Deng Haihua at a press conference.

Deng's remarks came after a report issued Thursday which said China's progress in tobacco control was limited and far from meeting the requirements of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The report was a joint assessment by more than 50 Chinese and foreign health experts and economists led by Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of Chinese Center for Diseases Control and Prevention.

The report, titled Tobacco Control and China's Future, was published to mark the fifth year since the WHO FCTC was implemented in China and recommended China should begin the implementation of the national strategy of comprehensive tobacco control.

Deng said the report would play a positive role in promoting the country's tobacco control efforts.

Deng said that in May 2009, the Health Ministry had pledged to ban smoking in all the country's medical institutes and health administrative organs by the end of this year.

The ministries of health and education in June last year announced bans on smoking in elementary and secondary schools, nurseries and kindergartens, as well as at vocational schools.

Deng said the Health Ministry, as the public health administration under the State Council, had always pushed national-level legislation for tobacco control.

Since 2009, strict regulations on tobacco control had been enacted in some cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Yinchuan, and there had been positive developments in the smoke-free Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo.

However, no exact plan of national legislation has been seen. The tobacco industry, which contributes nearly a tenth of the country's tax revenues, is thought to be a "pillar of the economy" in some provinces and regions.

China had 300 million smokers and about 1.2 million Chinese died from tobacco-related illnesses each year, a figure that was projected to reach 3.5 million by 2030 if current smoking trends continued, said the report.

China ratified the FCTC in 2003, pledging measures to effectively curb tobacco use, including legislation, large and clear warnings of the harmful effects of tobacco on cigarette packs, and a total ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The treaty took effect in China on Jan. 9, 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2011)