China has made fast progress in doping control in recent years, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) head Dick Pound said Thursday in Athens.

"China was the country embarrassed by this disclosure in 1998 (swimming world championships), and I think they have improved greatly (in doping control)," said Pound at a press conference with Ulrich Haas, who chairs an independent observer machine of WADA during the Olympic Games here.

A Chinese swimmer and her coach were caught carrying banned substances, while another four failed doping tests during the swimming world championships in Perth, Australia in 1998.

China has stepped up since then in tightening doping control in an effort to change the tainted image.

In 2004, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao signed a decree making China's own Anti-doping Regulation public after the country signed on WADA's anti-doping code.

To unite the anti-doping forces, tough new laws were set in place last March at a summit in Denmark and the WADA code received strong backing from sports federations and governments around the world.

Li Furong, deputy director of the State General Administration of Sport, has promised to make sure that no Chinese athletes tested positive during the Games, slated on Aug. 13 through to 29.

According to Li, the rate of positive tests was about 1.6 percent in 1990, and it dropped steadily to less than 0.4 percent of about 5,000 doping tests conducted in 2003.

As the host of the 2008 Olympic Games, China is determined to attach more importance in anti-doping.

"As the host country, we should make more efforts to ensure a clean image," China's anti-doping chief Shi Kangcheng said before he came to Athens.

Pound also encouraged China to set a good example for the world.

"China is now the host country for 2008, and I am sure they want to set a good example in terms of fair play and doping-free sport for the world," Pound said.

"The host country has the special responsibility to demonstrate the ethical value of the games they stage," he added.