Experts have said that a string of suicides at a Chinese plant making iPads for Apple highlights the need for the country to examine its economic development ambitions.

Xinhua has reported that an employee of Foxconn attempted suicide on Thursday by slitting his wrists, but survived after medical treatment.

Xinhua further reported that ten employees of the company, which makes computers, game consoles and mobile phones for companies including Apple, Nokia, Hewlett-Packard and Sony, committed suicide this year by jumping from factory buildings.

It has been reported that Taiwan-based Hon Hai is the parent company of Foxconn, which employs 800,000 employees on the Chinese mainland in massive factory cities where workers work long hours for minimum pay.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that according to the critics, the epidemic of suicides at Foxconn reflects Hon Hai's poor working conditions, including making employees work more than the legal allowance of overtime hours and creating excessive stress on workers with its military-style rigor.

Analysts have also said that China's traditional export-driven development pattern requires cheap labor churning out low-value-added products, and while such a model can create product and employ people, it cannot generate high profits or pay high wages. (With Inputs from Agencies)