Chip Starnes, an American and president of Specialty Medical Supplies Beijing Co., Ltd, could not believe his fate. For five days straight now, he has been held against his will and rendered captive inside his own factory in China by workers disgruntled over their salary.

"I have been here a long time," Mr Starnes was quoted by CNBC as saying in an interview from inside the factory. "I am not being physically abused or anything like that. The first couple of days were very tough. There was more mental stuff going on."

Beijing Factory Workers Holds American Boss Hostage Over Wage Clash

"I need to go back to my hotel. I need to take a shower. I need to change my clothes. I need to do some necessary things to come back professionally and work this out," the 42-year-old added.

Mr Starnes, who flew over the oceans to lay off 30 employees in China, got the surprise of his life when the remaining 100 of his employees barred him from leaving until they reached a resolution. However, he was offered by the workers three square meals a day.

"They adamantly said, I'm here to stay, live in my office and live on the cot until this gets done," Mr Starnes told AFP by phone. "And they said that my office is very nice so I have nothing to complain about."

To ensure he won't escape, employees had instituted a war-like security detail around the factory located in the northern Beijing district of Huairou. Dozens of employees were guarding the exits of the work site, he said.

"He is completely free within the factory; it's just that he has stuff to do," Chu Lixiang, an official with the government-run labor union in Huairou, said.

The dispute began when Mr Starnes closed its injection molding division and laid off roughly 30 employees, albeit with severance pays.

However, other workers, who said they got transferred to another division in the factory, also ought to have severance packages.

Things eventually got out of hand when rumours started spreading that Mr Starnes' plan was actually to close the entire plant and flee without paying the rest of the workforce, a sad reality that often happens in China.

Looking haggard and in the same clothes he has worn since Friday, Mr Starnes said local officials had coerced him to sign contracts that met some of the workers' demands.

"The union just wants to do anything that will calm the people," he said. "They are asking me to commit business suicide."

"This is just the way they want to resolve an issue," Mr Starnes said. "I just thought I would have a little more support from the outside, from local government."