Chinese are traditional smokers<\/p>\n
I refer to Santi W.E. Soekanto's article in The Jakarta Post
\non Nov. 13, titled Tobacco war rages on ahead of treaty.<\/p>\n
She wrote: \"However, the meeting was actually about facing the
\ngiants themselves -- the international tobacco industry -- which
\npours billions of dollars into promoting cigarettes so
\naggressively that China alone has 300 million smokers, which is
\nthe equivalent of the entire population of the United States.\"<\/p>\n
This is inaccurate. China had hundreds of millions of smokers
\neven before foreign tobacco companies were allowed to advertise
\nor market or even sell in the country back in the 1980s, when
\nChina began its open-door policy. Today, the market share of all
\nforeign tobacco companies in China is less than 1 percent. In
\nother words, over 99 percent of the 300 million smokers in the
\ncountry today smoke local Chinese brands.<\/p>\n
I am also interested to find out where the \"billions of
\ndollars\" you quote came from. Was this a statistic from an
\nofficial source such as the Chinese government, or was it simply
\nan exaggeration based on a wild guess? And if the international
\ntobacco industry invests money in promoting their products, why
\ndid you not also mention the promotional efforts of the local
\nChinese tobacco industry, which has 99 percent of the market?<\/p>\n
Finally, you may not be aware that tobacco advertising
\nin China has been banned for years, including TV, radio,
\nnewspaper and magazine ads, outdoor billboards, etc.<\/p>\n
ALBERT CHAN, Vice President (Corporate Affairs, Asia Pacific),
\nJapan Tobacco, International<\/p>\n
Note: Thank you for your clarification. The figure you ask about
\nwas acquired from the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>\n
-- Editor<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/chinese-are-traditional-smokers-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }