China welcomes the final ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) expert panel that the U.S. ban on imports of Chinese poultry is inconsistent with WTO rules, said Yao Jian, spokesman of China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC), Thursday.

In a statement on the MOC website, Yao said Chinese poultry products were safe and called for the U.S. to conduct fair assessments and tests on the meat.

China hoped the U.S. would take further steps to eliminate policies that discriminated against Chinese poultry products and ensure fair play, Yao said.

China had always maintained that WTO members should conscientiously abide by WTO rules and fight trade protectionism, he said.

The WTO said Wednesday that U.S. restrictions on imports of Chinese chicken, turkey and duck break global commerce rules.

The U.S. has banned poultry imports from China since 2007.

In July 2009, the WTO, at China's request, set up an expert panel to investigate whether the U.S. ban was in line with WTO rules.