The crackdown on foreign firms will deter global business—and undermine China’s own interests

Bosses of multinationals may have breathed a sigh of relief after the leaders of the g7 group of rich countries met in Japan last month. The talk was not of decoupling their economies from China, but of “de-risking” commercial ties with it. Yet any respite will have been momentary. The reality of operating in China is becoming increasingly bleak. As China takes a harsher approach to data privacy and counter-espionage, lawyers and executives say that the mood is tenser than ever.

Officials have raided a number of foreign firms, invoking vaguely worded laws concerning data, intellectual property and national security. Since the spring they have searched the offices of Capvision and Bain, two consultancies; and they have detained employees from Mintz, an American due-diligence firm, and Astellas, a Japanese drugmaker.