FUZHOU, Feb. 16 -- China has launched a special campaign to contain the proliferation of the invasive plant Spartina alterniflora to ensure the ecological security of the country's coastal wetlands.

China aims to effectively control the plant nationwide by 2025, with a clearance rate of more than 90 percent in various provinces, said the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Introduced into China in 1979, Spartina alterniflora has expanded rapidly in the country's coastal areas and become the most harmful alien invasive plant on the coastal mudflats.

Covering a total area of about 68,000 hectares in China, the plant is widely grown in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Shandong provinces, as well as Shanghai Municipality, according to a preliminary survey.

Authorities will strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of the plant, establish and improve the monitoring network, step up scientific and technological support for the plant's control, and improve related laws and regulations, the administration said.