Beijing is stepping up efforts to prop up unprofitable factories throughout China and keep them producing - despite years of promises to cut back on excess capacity that's flooding world markets with cheap goods and basic materials.

China's overproduction has driven down prices and crippled competitors, leading to thousands of lost jobs around the world.  It's triggering a sharp rise in trade disputes:  Australia is investigating alleged dumping of cheap solar panels and steel;  European workers hold protests against Chinese steel imports;  India raised import taxes on steel after a surge of cheap Chinese goods; the US initiated seven new dumping investigations in just the first three months of this year.

Some of what other countries say is unfair support comes in the form of free or cut-rate electricity.  Last year, Aluminum Corp. of China (Chalco) announced plans to shut down a roughly 500,000-ton-per-year smelter in the far-western Gansu region.  Executives prepared to layoff thousands of workers.  But out of the blue, Chalco's utility bills went down by 30 percent and the company is "in full production now with 380,000 tons of capacity", according to an executive.  

China denies it is guilty of dumping.  But its actions are also impacting politics in countries where factories have been put out of business by cheap Chinese competition, creating the rise of local politicians who are taking increasingly protectionist stances to placate angry and unemployed voters.