Honda Motor Co said yesterday that it hopes to resume stalled production at its auto factories in southern China by today following a strike at a crucial parts plant.
“We hope we can resume parts production as soon as possible, in the best case today [Monday], though it hasn’t re-started yet,’’ said Zhu Linjie (朱林傑), a company spokesman in Beijing.
“If we fail to restart operations today [yesterday], it should be tomorrow [today],” Zhu said.
Zhu would not comment on the status of talks with workers at Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Co, who went on strike May 17. The resulting lack of transmissions and engine parts forced Honda to shut production at its four assembly plants last week.
“Since the problem stems from demands for higher wages at our parts factory, we want to resume production there first. After that, perhaps one or two days later, our four car plants will get back to normal operations,” Zhu said.
The strike has affected two factories at the Guangqi Honda Automobile Co (廣汽本田) joint venture in Guangzhou, which make the Accord sedan and Odyssey minivan. Dongfeng Honda (東風本田) in Hubei Province, which produces the Civic and CRV SUV, also suspended output.
Guangzhou-based Honda Automobile China (本田汽車中國), which has a daily capacity of 120 Jazz models, was expected to partially resume operations and produce about 50 vehicles yesterday.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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