China welcomes the World Trade Organization (WTO) decision to reject the appeal by the United States in a trade dispute between the two countries over countervailing duty measures, said a Chinese official late Thursday.

The Appellate Body of the WTO decided earlier Thursday to uphold its previous findings that the United States acted inconsistently with WTO rulings in issues concerning determinations of "public body," determinations of the specificity of land subsidies, and the launch of countervailing investigations based on export restrictions.

The Appellate Body further confirmed that the benchmarks applied by the United States in conducting the countervailing duty investigations against certain Chinese products are against WTO rules.

"China welcomes the decision," Sun Jiwen, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), was quoted by a statement on the MOC website as saying.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2014)