The Chinese government is making every effort to secure the release of eight Chinese workers abducted in Iraq, the Chinese embassy in Iraq said Thursday.

The embassy is maintaining contacts with Iraqi governmental and non-governmental parties in an effort to rescue the eight who wentmissing last week and were later confirmed to be kidnapped by militants.

A videotape from the pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV channel showed on Tuesday eight hostages holding Chinese passports being guarded by masked gunmen.

The kidnappers asked the Chinese government to make clear its position on Iraq as a condition for the hostages' release.

At a press conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said the Chinese government has always had the fundamental interests of the Iraqi people in mind while dealing with the Iraq issue.

"The Chinese people have always cherished friendly feelings towards the Iraqi people and sympathized and supported them," Kong said.

The eight kidnapped people are ordinary Chinese citizens who traveled to Iraq to seek work. After failing to find employment they rented a car to leave Iraq but were kidnapped en route, Kong said.

Source: Xinhua