BEIJING — China has stepped up oversight of illegal wildlife trade via e-commerce platforms, the country's top market regulator said on Feb 27.

More than 750,000 pieces of information about wildlife trade were removed or blocked from major e-commerce platforms while 17,000 online stores or accounts were closed, said Liang Aifu, an official with the State Administration for Market Regulation, at a press conference.

Regarding issues that some may use secret codes to trade wildlife online, Liang said that those codes are also being monitored and will be screened out whenever used.

The market regulator has also urged online catering platforms to block information related to wildlife dishes and instructed mapping firms to clear up location information on wildlife restaurants.

China's top legislature on Feb 24 adopted a decision on thoroughly banning the illegal trading of wildlife and eliminating the consumption of wild animals to safeguard people's lives and health.