CHONGQING - China has established a national online auction platform for the hundreds of billions worth of assets previously auctioned by courts every year, according to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Friday.

The assets seized in lawsuits will be auctioned through an electronic transaction platform instead of "clinching a deal by striking a hammer," according to a statement from the SPC at an ongoing conference that started here Wednesday.

The bidding statistics and results will be publicized on the website http://rmfysszc.gov.cn to ensure a fair process, said the statement.

Shen Deyong, executive vice president of the SPC, said at the conference that the judicial auction marks a new phase, and going forward auctions conducted by people's courts at all levels will be available on the website.

Judicial auctions had been precarious matters with unspoken rules, backdoor deals, and susceptible to corruption by judges, the statement said.

In the past 20 years, China has continually worked to reform the judicial auction system, said the statement.

A series of measures, including enhanced transparency of bidding information and improvements for selecting auction agencies, have been worked out, it said.

According to the statement, the online transaction platform will be managed by the SPC, and all superior courts will be responsible for building and managing their own subsites for auctions.