China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) urged the United States on Wednesday to drop a provision in budget legislation that the MOC said was a protectionist measure against Chinese poultry products.

On Tuesday, the US Senate passed a US$410-billion spending bill to keep the government operating until fiscal year 2010 begins on October 1. The measure, passed last month by the House of Representatives, has been sent to the White House for signing.

The provision in question states: "None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to establish or implement a rule allowing poultry products to be imported into the United States from the People's Republic of China."

MOC spokesman Yao Jian said in a web statement: "This is a typical discriminatory and protectionist practice and it is in serious violation" of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

The provision will "seriously disturb" poultry trade between the two countries and hurt China's poultry industry, Yao said. He said China would appeal to the WTO and possibly take further action.

China and the United States banned imports of each other's poultry in 2004 following outbreaks of bird flu. They agreed to lift the bans at the Sino-US joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in 2004.

China did lift the ban but has complained that the United States was not following suit, Mei Xinyu, a trade expert with the MOC, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

MOC figures show that China imported 580,000 tonnes of chicken products from the United States last year, accounting for 73.4 percent of total chicken imports.

Chinese experts who asked not to be identified said the measure would effectively prohibit officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from coming to China to conduct inspections or other work that would lead to an end on the ban. Through its wording, the budget measure bans spending on such activities, which would even apply to buying air tickets to China.

Wang Xiulin, an official with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-Products, said last week that if the provision remained in the bill, it would be difficult for Chinese poultry to enter the US market within the next five years.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2009)