Some of China's most respected economists gathered at a high-level forum in Beijing on Friday and called on the government to act more quickly to help industries cut excessive capacity.

Since last year, the government has been shutting down inefficient and polluting factories, particularly in the steel-making and coal sectors.

But the government must work more resolutely and effectively because China "really cannot afford to wait" in closing down the old-fashioned and unprofitable part of China's manufacturing industry, said Liu Shijin, economist and former deputy director of the State Council Development and Research Center, a government think tank.