BEIJING -- State Councilor Wang Yong said Thursday China should still deepen reforms in intellectual property rights, despite the fact it has shown great improvement in the area in recent years.

China should pilot comprehensive management reform, ease control on patent agencies and improve relevant public services, Wang said when inspecting the State Intellectual Property Office.

The country should create a fast channel for patent applications in emerging strategic industries and foster a vast number of high-value patents, Wang said.

The country had over 3.47 million patent applications in 2016, up 23.8 percent year on year, said State Intellectual Property Office head Shen Changyu at a national meeting Thursday.

Among them, patent applications for inventions increased by 21.5 percent year on year to 1.34 million, Shen said.

The number of Chinese international patent applications filed under the World Intellectual Property Organization's Patent Cooperation Treaty hit 40,000 last year, Shen added.