China announced Sunday to ban imports of poultry and related products from Thailand and Cambodia to prevent possible inflow of bird flu and safeguard domestic stockbreeding.

The State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Ministry of Agriculture issued a joint notice Sunday requesting withdrawal or destruction of poultry products imported directly or indirectly from the two countries.

Poultry products couriered to China or carried by passengers are also forbidden to enter China, according to the notice.

The rule also applies to poultry products carried on foreign ships, aircraft and trains that pass through or stop over in China.

Poultry products from the two countries that are seized by Chinese customs should be destroyed under the supervision of local inspection and quarantine authorities and anyone who violates the rule would be punished in line with the country's quarantine law, according to the notice.

The import ban came after cases of bird flu had been confirmed in Thailand and Cambodia.

The Thai government on Friday confirmed two children had been tested positive for the H5N1 virus on chicken farms in central Thailand. Meanwhile, a farm in the outskirts of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh has reported outbreak of bird flu.

So far, there have been no reported cases of bird flu in China. But the Ministry of Health issued an urgent notice a week ago calling for training of health workers by March 15 on preventing the spread of the disease.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2004)