The State Council has issued a circular on the results of the fourth random inspection of national government websites, indicating an improvement in government websites.

The authorities examined 7,535 government websites — 16 percent of the total — among which 91 percent met the basic standards, up 9.5 percentage points from the first quarter of 2016.

The qualification rate of government websites run by departments under the State Council and local governments reached 97.2 percent and 90.8 percent, respectively. And 97 percent of unqualified sites found in the third inspection were rectified or shut down.

Among the websites run by governments above county level and State Council departments, 87 percent set up special columns on the homepage to release State Council policies and information, and 78 percent are able to publish the State Council’s crucial information within 24 hours after the release.

By the end of 2016, 93 percent of those websites opened channels on their homepage for mistakes to be submitted by users. In the fourth quarter, they received 2,399 such messages from netizens.

Meanwhile, some local governments and departments did not perform as well in re-posting State Council documents, improving their websites, or securing their sites against cyberattacks.

In general, random checks of more than 17,800 government websites in 2016 showed improvement, in which the average qualification rate in Beijing, Guangdong and Qinghai reached 95 percent.

In 2016, China also closed down 20,120 government websites across the nation in an effort to integrate government online platforms.

A routine monitoring mechanism was built in each region and department. Local governments, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shandong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Gansu and Ningxia, have included the management of government websites into their annual government performance assessments.