Theft and smuggling of cultural relics has grown to be a global issue and China has seen about 200,000 ancient tombs raided in the past several decades, according to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage on Tuesday.

"Driven by commercial benefits, many robbers take the risk of stern penalties, even up to execution, for plundering tombs, which has resulted in rampant relic thefts in China," said Zhang Bai, deputy director with the administration.

In order to curb relic smuggling, China signed up to be a party to an international "convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property" adopted by UNESCO in 1989.

China has also strengthened related international cooperation. It has signed a bilateral agreement with Peru to crack down on the theft and smuggling of cultural relics. A similar agreement is also under discussion now between China and the United States.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2005)