China to ban all tobacco advertising by 2011..

August 28, 2007 - China to ban all tobacco advertising by 2011.. All advertising of tobacco, including promotions and sponsorship, will be banned across China by January 2011, according to a leading non-governmental organization. The WHO convention requires signatories to ban tobacco advertising and related promotions and sponsorships within five years of its ratification by signatory states. China joined the international fight against tobacco consumption when it signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2003. It ratified the convention in October 2005 and the convention came into effect on Jan. 9. 2006, although implementation of the convention is not obligatory. China is the world's largest tobacco producing and consuming country, accounting for more than a third of the global total on both counts. It has more than 350 million smokers and almost one million die from smoking-related diseases each year, according to the Ministry of Health.