China has told state-owned companies to cut its links to American consulting firms on the heels of the US cyber espionage charges against five Chinese army officers.

According to a Financial Times (FT) report cited by Reuters, this latest action by China fears that companies such as The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and McKinsey & Company are supplying trade secrets to the US.

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In an email, Strategy& Company spokeswoman Margaret Kashmir denied receiving a notification like this and added that they are still serving their clients in China. Bain & Company spokeswoman Cheryl Krauss also said they were not aware of the reported government mandate.

McKinsey and BCG have yet to comment on the news about the said mandate.

FT said both companies have businesses in China and that some of their clients are Chinese state-owned enterprises.

This week, China warned Washington of retaliation if the latter continued with its charges that the five Chinese military officers hacked into American nuclear, solar, and metal companies. Alcoa Inc, United States Steel Corp, Westinghouse Electric Co, SolarWorld AG, and Allegheny Technologies Inc were among the firms that were allegedly hacked.

Cyber espionage has been one of the top national security concerns of Washington for many years.

The five Chinese officers were indicted by the US on May 19. This marked the first time that the US filed a criminal hacking charge against foreign officials.

After the charges were filed, Chinese authorities accused the US government of having "double standards" on cyber espionage. Chinese media firms called the US a "high-level hooligan" in relation to the cyber spying issues.

Meanwhile, China announced that it would take a closer look at IT products and services provider to protect national security and the country's "economic and social development." Furthermore, the Asian nation has banned Microsoft Corp's most recent operating system Windows 8 from computers in central government offices.