More than 510,000 such branches were set up in newly established enterprises last year, reported Monday's China Daily.

A federation official was quoted as saying that the federation aims to set up union branches in places "wherever there are workers" to protect workers' legal rights and interests.

Wang Ying, a division official in charge of setting up branches said 36 million members would benefit from the organizations by the end of 2002, "particularly in non-state-own enterprises".

Most owners of foreign-funded companies can abide by China's laws and regulations and encourage their employees to join unions, as unions are essential to protecting the interests and rights of workers and smoothing labor-management relations.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2002)