BEIJING - From January to August, China removed 696,500 high-emission vehicles from roads nationwide, accounting for 60 percent of China's high-emission cars, said the Ministry of Environmental Protection on Tuesday.

China has only four months to remove the others to meet this year's target of pulling all high-emission commercial vehicles registered before the end of 2005 from roads. The target was set in a government work report in March in an effort to improve air quality.

According to statistics released by the ministry, north China's Tianjin Municipality has fulfilled its share ahead of schedule, while 13 provincial regions including Hunan, Shandong, Hainan and Fujian have fallen behind with less than 50 percent of their work completed.

To accelerate the removal of targeted vehicles, the ministry has filed monthly reports briefing the public on the latest developments in each provincial region since July.