China Obliterates 42 Million DVDs and CDs

In a bid to show it is living up to its WTO obligations, China has pulverized 42 million smuggled and pirated CDs and DVDs.

The discs were destroyed across the country in what was termed the largest ever crackdown on illegal audio and video CDs and DVDs.

The city of Shanwei in southern Guangdong province was the main site of the destruction, with 26 million discs crushed.

Shanwei and its neighbouring city of Shantou are a favourite of smugglers attracted by the 298 kilometres of (184 miles) coastline in the area.

The crackdown was jointly organised by the General Administration of Customs, the General Administration of Press and Publication and the National Office for Cracking Down on Pornography and Piracy, the China Daily said.

"It is the biggest of its kind in terms of the quantity destroyed in one place and the overall quantity destroyed across China," said Gui Xiaofeng from the General Administration of Press and Publication.

The discs had been seized in raids dating back to 2001.

Part of China's obligation to the World Trade Organisation and its integration into global commerce is that overseas intellectual property rights have to be better protected.

Yet despite the public destruction of the discs, piracy and other infringements of intellectual property rights remain rampant, with not just fake music and video discs readily available but all manner of brand-named goods.

They are often produced with the connivance of local authorities.

The China Daily said smugglers are now able to conceal more than four million discs on a single ship, compared to no more than one million a decade ago.

In the latest major case, Guangdong police confiscated 4.77 million smuggled discs on March 2 -- a record-breaking haul.