Bain & Company employees are being questioned by Chinese police

The largest US consulting firm Bain & Company has revealed that Chinese police had visited and questioned certain employees at its Shanghai office.

According to a company spokeswoman who talked to the correspondents, "We are cooperating as appropriate with the Chinese authorities."

It happens at a time when ties between Washington and Beijing have gotten worse lately.

Five local workers of the US company Mintz were jailed following a search on their Beijing offices last month.

We can confirm that employees at our Shanghai office have been questioned by Chinese officials, Bain said.

We have nothing additional to say at this time," it continued.

Following media reports that authorities had paid Bain's office in the hub of Chinese finance an unannounced visit two weeks prior, the company issued a statement.

According to the Financial Times, which quoted persons briefed on the situation, officers removed computers and phones.

The central business area of Shanghai is where Bain's office there was established in 2004, according to the business's website. Beijing and Hong Kong offices are also part of it.

The multinational corporation, which is headquartered in Boston, offers guidance to for-profit, public, and private organizations.

US firms have grown apprehensive about their prospects in China as tensions between the two largest economies in the world have increased recently.

"The Chinese government has often declared its support for foreign investment. The opposite message, however, has been conveyed recently by a flurry of proceedings against US businesses in China, according to Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, who spoke to the BBC.

"Our members are asking, 'Who's next?' because our business community is scared. Regardless of the government's intentions, that is the message that is being understood, he continued.

Since former President Donald Trump instigated a trade war between the US and China in 2018, tensions have increased.

Relations between the two nations were further strained in February after the US fired down a balloon that Beijing claimed was a weather monitoring device but which Washington claimed was a spy balloon.

Last month, US senators interrogated TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew for over five hours about the app's data security and privacy policies as well as its potential ties to Beijing.

The Chinese government held military drills surrounding Taiwan after Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this month.