GUANGZHOU (Reuters) - A strike at a Japanese car parts supplier in southern China forced Toyota Motor Corp to suspend production at a Chinese auto assembly plant yesterday, the latest in a string of labour-related disruptions at foreign-owned manufacturers across the country. Work at the Toyota factory, which has an annual capacity of 360,000 units and makes models such as the Camry and Yaris, had been suspended since yesterday morning, said a company spokesman. "There is no decision yet on when production will resume," Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said. The car parts supplier, Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co Ltd, is owned by Japan's Denso Corp, and is affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp.

The strike at the Denso plant, located in China's booming Guangdong province, is the most recent in a series of Chinese labour actions that present a tricky challenge for China's ruling Communist Party, which has vowed to improve incomes but is jittery about protests.

The Denso plant supplies fuel injection equipment and other products to clients such as Toyota and Honda Motor Co and has stopped shipping parts since Monday, Denso spokeswoman Yoko Suga said.