The detained Beijing employees at Mintz Group, all Chinese nationals, have been freed, a company official said on Tuesday.
News of their release came on the heels of the just-concluded China Development Forum in Beijing attended by dozens of foreign chief executives, a platform that Chinese officials had used to bring home the message that China is open to foreign capital.
China has said it welcomes foreign trade and investment but stressed that national security precedes development.
“We are grateful to the Chinese authorities that our former colleagues can now be home with their families,” the Mintz official said in an email.
Mintz has 12 offices around the world and more than 280 investigators, according to its website.
Ahead of this year’s China Development Forum, Chinese officials had mounted a charm offensive, stepping up meetings with top foreign executives to reassure them of the attractiveness of the Chinese market.
Foreign direct investment in China plummeted 27.1 percent in local currency terms last year compared with 2023, according to official data, the most since the 2008 global financial crisis.
The outreach also came as tit-for-tat tariffs with the United States escalated, showing Beijing’s eagerness to consolidate ties with global business leaders to fend off disruptions sparked by US President Donald Trump, who is expected to heap more penalties on Chinese goods as soon as next month. (Reuters)
