Hooked on tobacco: Why China can’t quit despite decades of control

As public fights over smoking ignite fierce debate, China faces a deep structural dilemma: protecting public health without stubbing out a lucrative fiscal pillar. Zhan Shaohua, associate professor of sociology at NTU in Singapore, said that the tobacco industry is an important source of tax revenue for some local governments and is deeply tied to local economies. As a result, local governments often lack motivation to strengthen tobacco control. Local fiscal pressures have been extremely heavy in recent years, which has probably made tobacco control and restrictions on tobacco production even more difficult.

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