An official source reports that on 23 June, the Chinese government wrote to the chairman of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body through the Permanent Mission of China to the WTO, requesting it to establish an expert panel to investigate the US ban on Chinese poultry products.

The US ban on Chinese poultry products has violated the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the WTO Agricultural Convention, said Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), adding that the US's discriminative decision hinders the regular export of Chinese poultry products to the US and damages legitimate interests of the Chinese poultry industry. The Chinese poultry industry is strongly against the US poultry ban.

China filed complaints to the WTO on 17 April about the US law effectively banning imports of Chinese poultry products and tried to resolve dispute with the US through consultations.

However, the consultations failed to solve this issue. China therefore request the establishment of a WTO expert panel to investigate and rule on the legality of the US measures. This is China's right as a WTO member.

Mr Yao said that China hopes the US take China's concern seriously and that this issue can be solved properly under the WTO dispute settlement framework.