Key Points
- STMA Deputy Administrator Wang Gongcheng met KT&G COO Lee Sang-hak in Shanghai.
- The meeting took place as China advances a mandatory national standard for heated cigarettes.
- The report disclosed neither the agenda nor any agreement or cooperation project.
- No public information establishes a direct link between the meeting, KT&G’s products and potential entry into China’s domestic market.
2Firsts
September 2, 2026 Shenzhen
Wang Gongcheng, deputy administrator of China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), met KT&G Chief Operating Officer Lee Sang-hak and his delegation in Shanghai on September 1, according to Oriental Tobacco News, an official newspaper of China’s state tobacco system.
The two sides held friendly talks, the newspaper reported. It did not disclose the subjects discussed, identify potential areas of cooperation or announce any agreements arising from the meeting.
Officials from the STMA’s General Office, which also performs foreign affairs functions, as well as executives from China Tobacco International Group Co., Ltd. and representatives of other relevant organizations attended the meeting.
Wang Oversees China Tobacco’s International Operations
Wang was appointed deputy administrator of the STMA in July 2023 and currently oversees China Tobacco’s international operations.
Before joining China’s tobacco administration, he held senior positions at CRRC Group and its subsidiaries, giving him experience in managing a major state-owned enterprise and international business operations.
KT&G’s English-language corporate materials identify Lee as the company’s chief operating officer. He also serves as an inside director and is among the senior executives responsible for managing the South Korean tobacco company.
KT&G operates across conventional cigarettes and next-generation products. Its heated tobacco portfolio is built primarily around the lil platform.
China Advances Mandatory Heated Cigarette Standard
The meeting took place as China develops its regulatory framework for heated cigarettes. On July 28, a draft mandatory national standard for the category was opened for public comment, with submissions due by September 26.
The proposal treats tobacco sticks, heating devices and the resulting aerosols as parts of a single product system. It sets requirements covering device and battery safety, heating-temperature controls, child-resistant and accidental-activation protection, nicotine yield, packaging and product traceability.
The draft does not designate a preferred heating technology. Central-heating, peripheral-heating and stick-embedded heating structures, including induction-based architectures, remain within the proposed framework.
Publication of the draft provides the clearest official outline to date of how China may regulate electrically heated cigarettes. It gives international tobacco companies greater visibility into the potential product boundaries, technical requirements and compliance framework of the world’s largest tobacco market.
The standard remains under consultation, however, and its development does not mean heated cigarettes are about to be commercially introduced in mainland China. Product authorization, market-entry arrangements, production planning, taxation, distribution and packaging rules would also need to be addressed.
Recent Meetings With International Tobacco Companies
The Shanghai meeting forms part of a recent series of publicly disclosed exchanges between China’s state tobacco system and senior executives of international tobacco companies.
On August 27, STMA Deputy Administrator Liu Sanjiang met Philip Morris International Chief Global Research and Development Officer Michele Cattoni in Beijing. The official report of that meeting also provided no details about the substance of the discussions.
The two meetings occurred as China develops mandatory standards for heated cigarettes and nicotine pouches. However, the official disclosures did not connect either meeting to the standards process or to future participation by international companies in China’s domestic market.
KT&G Prepares New Heated Tobacco Platform
Separately, KT&G is preparing to expand its heated tobacco portfolio in South Korea. The company plans to launch the lil Tonino Lamborghini device and dedicated NAU tobacco sticks in Seoul on September 15.
The platform uses what KT&G calls “Flashwave Heating,” a microwave-based technology designed to heat the tobacco stick internally. KT&G claims the system can complete the heat-up process in approximately three seconds, although this is a manufacturer-rated figure rather than the result of independent testing.
The NAU sticks are incompatible with existing lil consumables, making the launch a separate device-and-consumables ecosystem rather than an update to an existing lil platform.
There is currently no public information establishing a direct link between the new KT&G platform, China’s heated cigarette standard or the September 1 meeting in Shanghai.
Follow 2Firsts for the latest developments in China’s tobacco regulation, heated tobacco market and global next-generation nicotine industry.
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