The Changing Role of China in the Global Illegal Cigarette Trade

von Lampe, Klaus, Kurti, Marin, Shen, Anqi and Antonopoulos, Georgios (2012) The Changing Role of China in the Global Illegal Cigarette Trade. International Criminal Justice Review, 22 (1). pp. 43-67. ISSN 1057-5677

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1057567712436843

Abstract

This study explores the history of the illegal production, distribution, and smuggling of cigarettes in mainland China. Data were obtained from a content analysis of 931 media reports retrieved from LexisNexis for the time period 1975 until 2010, and from other open sources. The illegal cigarette trade first emerged in the form of violations of state tobacco monopoly regulations. In the course of the restructuring of the legal tobacco sector, which occurred under external political pressure to open the Chinese market to foreign competition, an illegal cigarette industry emerged which at first primarily produced fake Chinese brand cigarettes for the domestic black market. At the same time, China became a destination country for smuggled genuine Western brand cigarettes. It was only after effective crackdowns against cigarette smuggling and domestic distribution channels in the late 1990s that the Chinese illegal cigarette industry shifted to exporting large numbers of counterfeit Western brand cigarettes to black markets abroad. China’s current role as a leading supplier of counterfeit cigarettes is a result of the contradictions of the economic reform process and of external licit and illicit forces that worked toward opening up the Chinese tobacco sector to the outside world.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: cigarette smuggling, counterfeiting, black market, illegal market, economic reforms, tobacco industry, China
Subjects: L900 Others in Social studies
Department: Faculties > Business and Law > Northumbria Law School
Depositing User: Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited: 31 May 2018 15:10
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2021 13:00
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34424

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