Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged the Chinese government to strengthen tobacco control to save huge numbers of lives and to ensure the country has a healthy workforce to continue its development. She said there was a real risk that the economic achievements of the past three decades could be cancelled out by the huge burden of coping with diseases linked to smoking. Chan met Premier Li Keqiang, Health Minister Li Bin and Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress Chen Zhu during her visit to Beijing. “The devastation of tobacco smoking outweighs any revenue that you can imagine. It’s false economy,” she said. More than 80% of deaths in China are related to non-communicable diseases linked to lifestyle, including smoking and poor diet, while the global average is 63%. The Chinese government has ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but failed to meet a deadline to ban smoking in public areas. Anti-smoking campaigners say one major problem is that the organization in charge of implementing the convention is the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, which also oversees the industry, creating a conflict of interest. China is the world’s largest cigarette manufacturer and consumer, with more than 300 million smokers.