Hong Kong CNN —Chinese authorities have closed the Beijing office of Mintz Group, an American corporate due diligence firm, and detained five local staff, the company said Friday. In a statement provided to CNN, Mintz Group, which is based in New York, said it had not received any official legal notice regarding a case against the company and had requested that authorities release its employees. It also follows unusually direct comments by Chinese leader Xi Jinping targeting the United States, accusing Washington of trying to “contain” and “suppress” China. In 2013, Shanghai authorities arrested Peter Humphrey, a former British journalist turned corporate investigator, and his American wife and business partner Yu Yingzeng, who operated consultancy company, ChinaWhys. Humphrey was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, while Yu received a two-year sentence.

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