The American businessman who says he's being held hostage by his factory employees in China over a pay dispute told CNBC Wednesday he hopes the "pretty good negotiations" now under way will bring his six days of captivity to an end.
Chip Starnes, president of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, said in a "Squawk Box" interview from a barred window in his office outside Beijing that he's still on "lockdown" as about 100 current workers demand severance packages similar to those received by 35 employees who were laid off.
"I'm kind of being forced to pay severance packages to people who still have jobs," Starnes continued. "They got kind of spooked," he said, by rumors the entire plant was being closed after the company's plastic injection molding division began a move to India to lower production costs. He has said no more layoffs were planned.
(Read More: US Boss in China Says Workers Holding Him Hostage)
Authorities in China have done little to intervene, because they view the situation as a civil dispute.