'The authorities not only provide support to the affected firms but also give them money to persuade them to stay in the city', Mr Wu said, according to the China Daily. -- ST FILE PHOTO
BEIJING - MORE than 1,300 companies shut down, suspended operations or moved out of south China's Pearl River Delta in the first nine months of the year due to the global downturn, state press said on Tuesday.
China tries to defuse latest factory protest
BEIJING - WORKERS at a diesel engine factory in eastern China were in talks with local officials on Tuesday after days of protests and road blocks over job security at the troubled plant, locals and police said.
Many of the 2,000 workers at the Yangdong diesel plant in Jiangyan city, Jiangsu province, had blocked local highways, surrounded government offices and yelled chants of 'Save our jobs', said local resident Yu Changjiang.
The number is from the cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan only and the overall figure for all of Guangdong province, just north of Hong Kong, could be much larger, the China Daily said.
About 30 per cent of overseas-invested firms in the delta region are losing money, the report said, citing Mr Wu Jun, a senior official with the province's foreign trade department.
'Half of them just manage to break even and only 20 per cent post a profit', he said.
Exports from the province rose by 13.5 per cent in the first nine months, down from 24.2 per cent in the same period last year, customs data showed.
The weakening exports has impacted the desire of foreign companies to invest in Guangdong, and the local governments are now introducing new incentives to encourage investment, Mr Wu said.
'The authorities not only provide support to the affected firms but also give them money to persuade them to stay in the city', he said, according to the China Daily.
For example, the Dongguan government has allocated four billion yuan (S$883 million) to help more than 15,000 overseas-invested firms in the city cope with the crisis, it said.
The global financial woes have had a palpable impact on China's economy as a whole, with the trade surplus declining by 2.6 per cent in the first nine months from a year earlier. -- AFP
