As it looks to evade global business ethics rules, Beijing has a history of arresting due diligence company employees who pose a threat to its authoritarian, monopolistic hold on both domestic and foreign business conducted within its borders. After imprisoning a former British corporate investigator and his American wife in 2013, the Chinese Communist Party has again arbitrarily kidnapped employees of a legitimate corporate watchdog.
China has a right to detain anyone it might suspect of nefarious acts on its soil. With limited information on this incident — especially regarding whether Randal Phillips, the CIA veteran who’s now the head of Mintz Group’s Asia division, has anything to do with the situation — the US shouldn't be so quick to accuse China of wrongdoing.