2Firsts, December 5, 2025, Shenzhen-Drawing on reports from Xinhua News Agency and Xinwen Lianbo of China Media Group (CMG), reports that Chinese Premier Li Qiang on December 5 chaired a State Council executive meeting ordering a full-chain crackdown on illicit tobacco activities. The directive includes strengthened enforcement across tobacco production, warehousing, logistics, distribution, and retail.
Xinwen Lianbo—China’s most influential national news program—broadcast the meeting’s content on Friday evening. It is uncommon in recent years for the program to publicly report a Premier-led deployment specifically targeting illicit tobacco enforcement.
The full text of the subtitles broadcast on Xinwen Lianbo reads:
“The meeting stressed the need to crack down severely on illicit tobacco activities, strengthen supervision and law enforcement across all links of tobacco production, warehousing, logistics, distribution, and retail, continuously purify the tobacco market environment, and effectively safeguard national interests and consumer rights.”
--Source: Xinwen Lianbo, December 5, 2025
According to Xinhua’s summary of the meeting, the State Council called for comprehensive regulatory measures to safeguard state interests and consumer rights. China has consistently emphasized the need to combat illegal tobacco activities, though most previous public communications have come from the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration or local enforcement agencies. The report did not disclose specific operational plans but emphasized the need for “comprehensive, full-chain” regulatory enforcement.
Given that the directive was delivered at a State Council executive meeting and directly by the Premier, future enforcement efforts may be coordinated at a higher administrative level. Within China’s governance structure, such deployments may involve multiple agencies, including the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, public security authorities, market regulators, and customs.
2Firsts will continue monitoring developments in China’s tobacco market and related regulatory actions.
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