Claim: China to ban smoking at indoor public places.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Smoking in China
text: ban of smoking in public places. With an explicitly stated objective of "building smoke-free environments for the sake of enjoying healthy life", the report has received strong support and praise from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a U.S. health advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. In addition, the report suggested a strong likelihood of success for the implementation of complete public smoking bans in seven major urban areas on the basis of demonstrated widespread popular support for such measures. According to an analysis by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, polling data in the Ministry of Health report revealed: "Overwhelming public

title: Smoking in China
text: in public and working places in the beginning of 2010; smoking may be prohibited in some places and violators may be fined up to 3000 yuan. Yang Tingzhong from Zhejiang University undertook campaigns and project sponsored by Bloomberg Global Initiative to ban smoking in university campuses at a nationwide scale. According to Medical News Today, seven provincial capitals in China are taking steps to ban smoking in workplaces and public places. The seven cities are Tianjin, Chongqing, Shenyang, Harbin, Nanchang, Lanzhou and Shenzhen. Although there are already some smoking bans in places in these cities, government officials have realized that

title: Smoking in China
text: certain public places in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has been banned from 1 January 2007 under the government's revised Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371), first enacted in 1982 with several amendments subsequently. The latest amendment enlarges the smoking ban to include indoor workplaces, most public places including restaurants, Internet cafés, public lavatories, beaches and most public parks. Some bars, karaoke parlors, saunas and nightclubs were exempt until 1 July 2009. Smoking bans in lifts, public transport, cinemas, concert halls, airport terminal and escalators had been phased in between 1982 and 1997. The ban in shopping centres, department

title: Smoking in China
text: host the 2010 World Expo, the city of Shanghai had recently heightened its anti-smoking legislation. The Shanghai People's Congress issued the city's first smoking control law in March 2010. The law bans smoking in 12 types of public places including indoor smoking at schools, hospitals, sport stadiums, public transport vehicles and Internet cafes. Anyone caught smoking would first be given a warning and then face a fine of 50 to 200 yuan if they resist. According to Li Zhongyang, the deputy head of the Shanghai Health Promotion Committee, the smoking ban was enacted to protect citizens' health and also promote

title: Smoking in China
text: In light of the passage of national tobacco initiatives and international publicity for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Beijing city government extended a public smoking ban on May 1, 2008 to include sports venues and all indoor areas of government offices, transport stations, schools and hospitals. The ban had a generally strong impact, with poll results suggesting that a majority of Chinese residents (69% out of over 10000 respondents) are "not only aware of a smoking ban in Beijing, but [95% of respondents] also hope that the authorities promote the move nationwide." According to China Daily News: The Beijing government

title: Smoking in China
text: enforcement is rare to non-existent outside the most highly internationalized cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing. Outside the mainland however, enforcement is strong in the Hong Kong special administrative region. Furthermore, outside the largest cities in China, smoking is considered socially acceptable anywhere at any time, even if it is technically illegal. The Chinese Association on Tobacco Control (中国控制吸烟协会 "Zhōngguó kòngzhì xīyān xiéhuì") is engaged in tobacco control by members of the voluntary sector, including academic, social and mass organizations, as strong enforcement of existing tobacco control laws is not supported by the Chinese Government. Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of

title: Smoking in China
text: support for the enactment of totally smoke-free public spaces ... support for total smoking bans exceeds support for partial smoking bans ... Among smokers, the polls found that 93.5% support a total ban on smoking in all schools, 75.5% support a total ban in hospitals, and 94.3% support a total ban in all public transport. Among non-smokers, 95.1% support a total ban in all schools, 78.1% support a total ban in hospitals and over 93.8% support a ban in public transport. Some 70.6% of non-smokers support some type of smoking ban in bars and restaurants. Although China still lags behind

title: Smoking in China
text: many countries in implementing tobacco control policy, the Ministry of Health's May 20 initiative helped to establish more unified smoking controls and codify public health authority at broad administrative levels. From 2009, Projects sponsored by Bloomberg Initiative and directed by Yang Tingzhong were designed as the first program to prohibit all forms of smoking in University campuses in China. The Ministry's "Decision" formally requests local governmental units to "set up multi-agency FCTC Implementation Leading Small Groups" to assist with regional strategies of enforcement, with the explicit goal that: "by the year 2010, all health administration offices, both military and non-military,

title: Smoking in China
text: new daily average [after the extended smoking ban] was less than half of what was reported in the first four months of this year, when the city's firefighters had to put out 325 fires caused by cigarette butts, or 2.7 per day." In 2007, Guangzhou and Jiangmen became Guangdong's first two cities for experimental enforcement of total smoking ban at some public places. The public places for smoking ban included restaurants, entertainment outlets, schools, supermarkets, and governmental offices. However, by March 2010, the Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress prepared to lift the smoking ban in work places, including offices, conference rooms

title: Smoking in China
text: public approval of smoking bans among residents of urban areas. Various health experts, activists, and public advocacy groups regard the Chinese government's escalating efforts toward tobacco policy as "surely good news for the country's smoking control progress." Notable support also exists within the sphere of representative politics; allegedly, political advisors of the CPPCC have even gone so far as to call for smoke-free legislative sessions. However, widespread apathy and tacit acceptance toward smoking policy are likely to predominate within large portions of the Chinese population. China has a relatively low social disapproval rate of smoking—according to the International Tobacco Control

title: Smoking in China
text: compliance rate is low and plans to issue a strict ban. The new ban will be run as a pilot project under the joint auspices of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease(UNION). Responding to criticism about the current legislation not being well enforced, Wang Yu, director of the China CDC explained that "This project would create strict legislation to guarantee 100-percent smoke-free public venues and workplaces and figure out a feasible and forceful working mechanism to enforce the smoking ban." Tobacco use has been identified as an increasingly

title: Smoking in China
text: in public areas, 84 percent of restaurant guests reported exposure to second-hand smoke, and 74 percent of them were annoyed by the fumes and support smoking controls. While many interviewers found second-hand smoke itself toxic and damaging to citizen's health, a main reason behind popular support for the smoking ban relates to the citizen's concern for Shanghai's image. According to one citizen that the public health experts from Fudan interviewed, "Smoking has been banned in public places in several countries. We should do the same, at least during the Expo, since it is a cosmopolitan event. And of course, for

title: Smoking in China
text: completely ban "promotion and sponsorship on radio, television, print media and the Internet within five years," as well as to prohibit tobacco companies from sponsoring international events or activities. China has also resolved to ban all tobacco vending machines, as well as smoking in indoor work places, public areas, and public transportation vehicles. Despite China's own widespread and complex smoking issue, the ratification of the FCTC in China represents a significant commitment to tobacco control in international public health policy. According to Dr. Shigeru Omi, the WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific region, "implementing the Convention will not be

title: Smoking in China
text: easy, as smoking is an ingrained habit in China ... but the Government has made clear its commitment to take action." In light of the FCTC, concerns about international image, and strong support from both citizens and domestic health authorities, the Chinese government has become increasingly involved in tobacco prevention and tobacco-related health promotion programs. Prior to enacting the nationwide smoking ban, the Ministry of Health had already maintained active involvement in decrying the negative effects of smoking and striving toward decreased prevalence of tobacco use. On May 29, 2007, the Ministry released a report (2007 年中国控制吸烟报告—The 2007 China Smoking

title: Smoking in China
text: has also adopted a policy of persuasion, combined with a fine of up to 5,000 yuan ($730) for violating the ban, in an attempt to further encourage citizens to curtail public smoking. A direct positive public health impact of the Beijing smoking ban has manifested in the arena of fire prevention. According to People's Daily, "The smoking ban has cut the number of fires in the city sparked by cigarette butts by more than half ... In the first week of this month, the Beijing fire brigade put out eight cigarette-related fires, an average of 1.14 per day ... The

title: Smoking in China
text: on the Chinese media to act as a watchdog. Smoking is a social custom in the PRC, and giving cigarettes at any social interaction is a sign of respect and friendliness. On May 20, 2009, the Ministry of Health of China issued a formal decision to completely ban smoking in all health administration offices and medical facilities by the year 2011. With an ever-increasing Chinese smoking population of over 350 million, the enactment of the May 20 initiative represents an important landmark in China's commitment to tobacco control. However, due to the Chinese government's complex relationship with tobacco policy (for

title: Smoking ban
text: 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order for the disestablishment of public smoking areas, both indoor and outdoor, implementing a nationwide smoking ban. Smoking in public places was banned in Poland on 15 November 2010 by a change in parliamentary act "On Defending Health Against Results of Tobacco and Tobacco Products Usage" ("Ustawa o ochronie zdrowia przed następstwami używania tytoniu i wyrobów tytoniowych"). The smoke ban includes all public places, regardless of ownership, that is restaurants, pubs, workplaces, hospitals, universities, public transport stops and stations and sports facilities (institutions of primary and secondary education had been declared smoke-free already

title: Smoking in Hong Kong
text: 371), first enacted in 1982 with several amendments subsequently. The latest amendment enlarges the smoking ban to include indoor workplaces, most public places including restaurants, Internet cafés, public lavatories, beaches and most public parks. Some bars, karaoke parlors, saunas and nightclub were exempt until 1 July 2009. Smoking bans in lifts, public transport, cinemas, concert halls, airport terminal and escalators had been phased in between 1982 and 1997. The ban in shopping centres, department stores, supermarkets, banks, game arcades has been in place since July 1998. An anomaly to the smoking ban are on cross-border trains between Hong Kong and

title: Smoking in China
text: intricacies of domestic ownership and control of tobacco production and distribution. On February 12, 2011, State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, announced that it will ban inappropriate smoking scenes in movies and TV shows. The announcement said smoking scenes are out of line with the country's stance on tobacco control, and are misleading to the public, especially minors. Thus it is prohibiting scenes of cigarette brands, people smoking at smoke-free places, minors buying and smoking cigarettes, and other smoking scenes associated with minors. After the announcement was done, the ban was effective immediately. In light of its preparations to

title: Smoking in China
text: and at least 50% of all medical and health institutions should become smoke-free units, so that the goal of a total smoking ban in all health administration offices and medical and health institutions can be fulfilled by 2011." The "Decision" also encourages health administration offices to utilize mass media resources and draw upon large-scale publicity campaigns such as World No Tobacco Day in order to "actively promote the importance of implementing a total smoking ban in military and civil health administration offices and medical and health institutions." As polls from the 2007 Ministry of Health report showed, there is widespread