China said on Tuesday a raid on US consultancy Capvision's office in the eastern city of Suzhou was aimed at safeguarding its national security and development interests.

"China's national security agencies and relevant departments have recently carried out open law enforcement actions against the relevant company in accordance with the law," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said when asked about an investigation into the firm.

"This aims to promote healthy development of the industry and safeguard national security and development interests."

CCTV said on Monday that Chinese authorities had launched an investigation into Capvision.

The report said the probe was based on findings by Chinese authorities that the domestic operations of foreign consulting firms had been used by overseas institutions to obtain state secrets and other sensitive information.

Jorge Toledo Albinana, the European Union ambassador to China, expressed his concern about recent Chinese investigations into consultancies. "The latest news on crackdowns on consultancies is not good news," he told reporters in Beijing.

The scrutiny of consulting firms comes as China is set to expand its counter-espionage law, a move Albinana said was "not very conducive" to the country's aim of opening up to more foreign investment. (AFP/Reuters)