BACKGROUND: The Chinese government faces challenges in tobacco control due to its dual role as both regulator and owner of the tobacco industry. The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration is still part of the Leading Group coordinating the implementation of the WHO FCTC. In 2018, the Chinese tobacco industry initiated the nationwide 'civilised smoking environment' campaign via a five-year action plan. The goal of this study was to analyse content of reports regarding this topic as evidence to policy-makers to prevent interference from the tobacco industry.
METHODS: A search of Wisenews, a Chinese media information service provider, for reports regarding the ‘civilised smoking environment’ between January 2018 and December 2022, yielded an initial 2308 reports. After excluding duplicate reports or reports lacking details, 1062 reports were finally coded separately by two trained researchers using a codebook developed by the team, including 4 sections with 19 items.
RESULTS: Most reports (66.5%) were from general media. There were 635 reports (59.8%) mentioned approaches to promote the civilised smoking environment, primarily by establishing civilised smoking areas (86.1%). The 774 reports (72.9%) disclosing key promoters of these initiatives mentioned the Tobacco Monopoly Administration (69.5%), Tobacco Corporation (52.3%), and other government agencies (20.4%). Regarding funding details, mentioned in 252 reports (23.7%), the Tobacco Monopoly Administration (60.3%) and Tobacco Corporation (50.8%) contributed largely, and many funds were used to establish civilised smoking areas. Most reports (92.8%) supported these initiatives, while only 45 (4.2%) opposed it.
CONCLUSIONS: Civilised smoking environment in China was promoted and financed primarily by tobacco industry and was widely supported by media. This undermines the smoke-free environment and violates the key article (5.3, 8 and 13) of WHO FCTC. China’s government should cease its involvement in these initiatives, and government agencies should refrain from agreeing, supporting, cooperating, or participating in these activities.