New cigarette factories stubbed out

A ban on new cigarette factories, including joint ventures, has been pledged as part of a crackdown on tobacco consumption, state media reported. Sha Zukang, Chinese ambassador to the United Nations Office in Geneva, told a tobacco control conference of the World Health Organization the government will also put existing tobacco production under strict control through taxes and industry reorganization, continue to impose strict restrictions on tobacco advertising, forbid selling cigarettes to minors and ban the use of automated cigarette machines. China also aims to host a tobacco-free Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, he added.