China is getting aggressive in its fight against doping and plans to step up testing before the 2008 Olympics [Images] come to Beijing [Images], a Chinese sports official said on Thursday.

"We have set a target for raising anti-doping testing by 60 percent inside the country. The campaign will start next year and continue through 2008," Shi Kangcheng, head of the Science and Education Department of China's General Administration of Sports, said at a news conference.

China, which used to have a reputation for doping, has been working to clean up its act.

It dropped 27 athletes from its Olympic squads before the 2000 Sydney Games and cut some weightlifters and others before last year's Athens Games for failing drug tests.

China conducted 5,000 drug tests in 2004, up from 165 in 1990 when its anti-doping efforts began, Shi said, emphasising that the clean-up drive will last beyond 2008.

David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, also praised China for setting up a well-equipped testing laboratory and putting effective sanctions in place.

China implemented its first anti-doping law in March 2004 to tighten controls over banned drugs and dole out criminal penalties to serious offenders.