Hundreds of cab drivers in northwest China's Xining City staged a sit-in in front of the municipal government headquarters on Sunday to demand assurances that they will be able to renew their business licenses.

The drivers were angered after a newspaper reported that the Qinghai Provincial Government would cut their license periods from 12 years to eight, prompting a government official to accuse them of "misunderstanding" the regulations.

More than 5,000 drivers began a one-day strike on Saturday night and hundreds of them convened the sit-in at around 10 a.m. Sunday, causing a brief traffic jam in the downtown area. They dispersed at around 3 p.m. after local officials promised to address the issue properly.

Only a few taxis could be seen in central Xining, capital of Qinghai province.

The Xihai Metropolis News cited the regulation as saying, "After eight years, the drivers' operating rights in Xining will be taken back to the taxi companies and redistributed."

Some drivers warned they would continue the sit-in on Monday if the government did not provide them with a satisfactory answer regarding who would have the operating rights after their licenses expired.

"We demand a straight answer from the government," said one protestor. "Who will have the cab operating rights in eight years or 12 years, drivers or the taxi companies?"

Almost 90 percent of cabs in Xining are privately owned. Drivers can do business after paying a taxi company a monthly management fee of 600 yuan (87 U.S. dollars).

Cabs drivers feared they would have to pay high rental fees to the taxi companies if they wanted to continue operating.

But Xining transport authorities said drivers had misunderstood the regulation which was released by the provincial government in April.

"The Xining government's policy regarding taxi operation rights has not changed," said Tan Mingjun, vice head of Xining Transportation Bureau.

Tan confirmed that the regulation had stated the number of years a driver could operate a taxi should be eight years, but did not say whether Xining would adapt the policy.

He said the official operating term had long been eight years, but the city extended it to 12 years after it adopted the even-odd license plate system in 2003, which aimed to keep vehicles off roads every second day to ease traffic jams.

(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2009)