Leon Wang, president of AstraZeneca China, is "cooperating with an ongoing investigation by Chinese authorities", the company said in a statement Wednesday.

"Our China operations continue under the leadership of the current General Manager of AstraZeneca China," it said, adding: "If requested, AstraZeneca will fully cooperate with the investigation."

China's foreign ministry referred a question about the probe to the "competent authorities" on Thursday, without giving further details.

"The Chinese government welcomes foreign enterprises to invest and do business in China, and will guarantee their legal rights and interests in accordance with the law," ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

China is a key market for AstraZeneca, developer of a Covid-19 jab widely administered throughout the world during the coronavirus pandemic.

In September, the firm confirmed several employees were under investigation in China after a report said they were being questioned about potentially illegal data collection and drug imports.

The probes involved five current and former employees of the firm -- all with Chinese citizenship -- and were being led by authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen, Bloomberg said.

One investigation related to the firm's collection of patient data, which authorities suspect may have breached Chinese privacy laws, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

Another probe related to imports of a liver cancer drug that had not been approved in mainland China, according to Bloomberg.

The firm, headquartered in the United Kingdom, has 90,000 employees globally.

Global firms have faced an increasingly difficult business environment in China in recent years, industry groups say, citing a lack of transparency on data laws and prolonged detentions of employees in the country.

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