Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said on Tuesday Washington was very concerned about China's recent "punitive" action toward some U.S. companies, and that foreign firms are delaying investments in the country due to uncertainty about the openness of its economy. "If you put that together with some of the punitive actions that the government here in Beijing has taken against several American companies recently, we're very concerned about this," Burns said, adding: "We intend to have a full discussion with the government here about it." China's foreign ministry said at the time Mintz was suspected of engaging in unlawful business operations. Burns said a lot of foreign firms were delaying making major investments until they could see some consistency in messaging from China. He said he had warned American companies to carefully abide by a U.S. law that prohibits importing goods from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor by Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities.

---