Doping is a serious issue in sports around the world. China, on the road to becoming a major international power in sports, has intensified its fight against doping since the late 1990s.

At the 9th National Games in 2001, China employed international practices in its drug testing for the first time, turning up eight cases of banned-substance use. Some doping cases were also detected at last year's national bodybuilding championships.

At the upcoming 10th National Games to be held in October in Nanjing, all athletes are likely to be tested rather than just the top athletes from the national teams, said Zhang Changjiu, chairman of the Asian Medicine Association's Anti-doping Commission and vice chairman of the China Weightlifting Association, in an interview with China.org.cn.

Zhang admitted that more attention is needed in the fight against doping at non-Olympic events.

The 1995 Law on Physical Culture and Sport bans the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and various sports administration entities have promulgated another 30 regulations on the topic during the past decade. The Drug Administration Law and Customs Law also provide direct or indirect legal support for the ban.

A national anti-doping regulation signed by Premier Wen Jiabao that went into effect on March 1, 2004, requires public security, customs, public health and other medical organizations to participate in the fight.

The 2004 regulation further legalizes China's anti-doping work and has a positive and far-reaching effect in cleaning the sports market and maintaining fair competition, said Zhang.

Some Chinese athletes receive more severe punishments for violations of the laws than are commonly seen elsewhere in the world, according to Zhang, although punishments are tailored to the specific situations. For example, if athletes prove they have taken banned substances in error, punishment will be lighter.

The nation's advanced testing technology enabled China to participate in research for EPO (erythropoietin) testing methods. Zhang said it hopes to be able to institute some new doping control tests at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In preparation for that event, a new 5,000-square-meter laboratory will be built in the Olympic Sports Center, adjacent to the 3,000-square-meter lab built for the Asian Games and forming a drug testing center. It will be outfitted with new, state-of-the-art equipment.

The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) has certified the China Doping Control Center for 16 successive years.

According to Zhang, the center and China's other testing centers are all staffed by highly trained and skilled personnel. WADA invited six Chinese experts to work during the 2004 Athens Olympics.

(China.org.cn by Zhan Haitao, Yuan Fang, April 18, 2005)