BEIJING -- China has attained most of its environment protection goals for 2017, according to the country's ecology and environment minister.

China saw more cities meet required air quality standards last year, Li Ganjie, head of the Ecology and Environment Ministry, said at a bimonthly legislative session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

However, the share of good air quality days throughout the whole year for China's prefectural-and-above level cities and the surface water quality still fell short of targets.

"The targets outlined by the 13th Five-Year Plan could be achieved with arduous efforts." Li said. "China's ecology and environment still face grave conditions and the government will roll out a string of measures to address specific challenges."