Now here's an interesting admission. The Chinese Communists are more susceptible to hte social pressures of those who wish to continue to smoke than our government in the UK is.
China's stability could be threatened if the government tried to curb smoking, a senior official said on Wednesday at a discussion of the annual meeting of parliament.
"Smoking harms people's health, but restraining smoking threatens social stability," said Zhang Baozhen, deputy chief of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration.
"Smokers rioted when the former Soviet Union collapsed because they could not get any cigarettes... The principle applies in China as well," Zhang said, responding to proposals from some members of China's parliamentary advisory body to curtail the smoking industry.
Partial smoking bans are already in effect in many places around the world, including Hong Kong, which returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997, several American states and parts of Europe.
So, who is the democracy now?
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