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Beijing - Chinese authorities unveiled sweeping new rules against smoking Thursday which would enable visitors to the Olympics to book smoke-free hotel rooms and non-smoking restaurant tables.
The rules, taking effect on May 1, are designed to promote a
"smoke-free" Games, officials said.
They broaden existing smoking bans in some public places and order hotels and restaurants to provide smoke-free facilities for the first time in the Chinese capital, said Sun Xuanli, deputy head of the city's health committee.
"This lays the foundation for a smoke-free Olympics," Sun told a
press conference.
Olmypic venues
Olympic venues and facilities for the 10 500 competitors expected here for the August 8-24 Games are already under stringent smoking bans.
Beijing residents and some 550 000 foreign tourists expected for the Games will find smoking banned from cultural venues such as museums and libraries as well as schools, colleges, hospitals and parks, which will be asked to offer separate smoking areas.
Originally officials wanted to introduce a broader ban making all Beijing bars and restaurants completely non-smoking, but owners fought back and the plan was dropped.
"We are still working on beating tobacco. We are not there yet but these steps broaden the measures we alreay have," said Li Lingyan, deputy director of the city's legal affairs office.
She admits that enforcement could be a problem because the city has only around 2 000 inspectors with the power to order citizens to stub out cigarettes. Also, fines of just 10 yuan ($1.5) for violators are low, she said.
"We rely mainly on education and propaganda to get people to stop," she said, inclduing 60 000 so-called tobacco control "supervisors" whose job is to to persuade the public not to smoke.
China has about 350 million smokers, about a quarter of its
population and one-third of the world's smokers, according to official statistics.
Bars and restaurants are often filled with an acrid haze, with
diners routinely lighting up even as they eat.
About one million people die of smoking-related diseases each year in China, according to the World Health Organisation.
- Sapa-AFP