SHENZHEN, Guangdong - Health Minister Chen Zhu warned on Wednesday that cancer has emerged as one of the biggest threats to the health of the world's most populous country.

Over the past 30 years, the incidence of cancer in China has increased by 80 percent.

"Every year, 2.6 million Chinese people are diagnosed with cancer and 1.8 million Chinese die from it," he said at the opening ceremony of the World Cancer Congress 2010 in Shenzhen.