An official of China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said Tuesday that it would enforce the eradication of unlicensed websites offering online videos.

Tian Jin, deputy director of the administration, said at a forum on online media that the move would secure the healthy development of the Internet for the country's 200 million or more online video service users.

Tian said online video programs had become a new platform for information transmission in recent years, and he praised the positive roles of major media websites, such as xinhua.net and cctv.com.

But some videos circulating on the Internet contained obscene or violent content, he said.

He did not say when exactly the crackdown would start.

Wang Chen, director of the Information Office of the State Council, said at the same forum that China would step up regulation of online media as Internet safety issues were increasingly "prominent."

"Undesirable" content had "severely undermined" the physical and psychological health of minors, Wang said.

Wang urged online media to tighten self-discipline and raise their sense of responsibility to build a healthy, civilized and orderly online environment.

The Chinese government has launched repeated campaigns to crackdown on websites and publications with obscene content.

China has up to 360 million Internet users nationwide and nearly 200 million mobile phone users obtain Internet services from their phones.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2009)