The story seems to indicate that these hostages will not be executed because of China's opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

The names of the hostages are Wei Wu, 19, Lin Bin, 38, Lin Qiang, 39, Zhou Sunqin, 17, Chen Qin'ai, 36, Zhou Sunlin, 18, Lin Zhong, 38, and Lin Xiong, 34.

Al Jazeera:

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped eight Chinese employees, working for a construction company, they say is collaborating with U.S. occupation troops, a video released on Tuesday showed.

Various news channels aired the video, in which eight Chinese appeared holding their passports, and standing in front of a small mud brick building. Along with the eight Chinese, two gunmen appeared in the video with headscarves wrapped around their faces.

In the tape, the kidnapping group said it grabbed the men as they were on their way out of the country.

"After interrogation, we found that they are working for a Chinese construction company that is working inside American sites in Iraq," the note said.

"The movement decided to free these Chinese soon on condition that they will not go back to their work with the occupation forces. And we hope the Chinese company will not deal with these forces," said the voice in the tape.

"At a time when the position of the Chinese government toward our cause was clear -- not taking part in invasion forces and their aggression against our country."

"We call on the Chinese government to clarify its position on them and other Chinese. We will kill them 48 hours after their pictures are televised unless that is done."

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