For weeks now, the police have been raiding prominent international consulting firms in China. Now the motivation for these raids, which included some American firms, have come to light after state media on Monday revealed a multi agency crackdown on the consulting industry in the name of national security.  Beijing has also moved to limit the availability of financial data to foreign customers and expanded an already sweeping counterespionage. China has accused Western countries of stealing intelligence information in key industries as a part of a “strategy of containment and suppression against China.”

This campaign has caused a steep decline in imports last month in China. “Whatever China’s gaining by restricting “sensitive” information is not worth the reputational costs China is paying with foreign businesses,” said Gerard DiPippo, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former senior U.S. intelligence officer. 

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/business/capvision-china-espionage-law.html