Authorities in the south China city of Bose said Wednesday that they were actively working to resolve a taxi drivers' strike by cracking down on unlicensed cabs and arranging fuel subsidy payments.

About 200 of the city's 300 licensed taxis have been off the roads since Tuesday in Bose, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The drivers claimed the city government had defaulted of subsidies to cover fuel price hikes and they were dissatisfied with government actions to crack down on unlicensed taxis.

The taxi drivers also disagreed with government's approval for 35 extra taxis for the fleet of a local taxi company, named Amai. They claimed the city government should crack down unlicensed taxis first, then allow new competitors into the market.

A municipal government spokesperson said at a press conference Wednesday that city transport authorities had examined plans to issue fuel subsidies and were awaiting approval from regional government authorities.

The spokesperson said 330 unlicensed taxis had been confiscated and their drivers penalized since the beginning of last year. The government was studying how to build a long-term, effective mechanism for taxi regulation.

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