Chinese authorities swooped into the Guangzhou office of US-based car services firm Uber on suspicion that the company operates without a license in the capital of Guangdong Province, China.

The raid was part of the government's crackdown on illegal taxi activities in China, where taxi-hailing applications are getting extremely popular and several companies utilizing private car owners to service customers in need of taxi, sources said.

Like Us on Facebook

Authorities who raided Uber's Guangzhou office seized several mobile phones but local reports did not mention if arrests were made or if the said office was shut down following the operation.

The raid was based on information that Uber allowed owners of private vehicles to offer taxi services, a practice considered illegal in China. The rising demand for taxi services, however, has resulted to the proliferation of illegal taxi operations in the country.

Reform Transport Sector

A public transportation law expert said that while hiring private car owners to offer taxi services is currently illegal, Chinese authorities should consider reforming the law and the country's transportation sector in general.

In a statement to the local media, Uber, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California, said its operations and services in China have not been affected.

"We are actively cooperating with Chinese authorities," Uber was quoted by local media reports.

As of press time, Uber's mobile app was still available in Guangzhou and several residents in the city said they were still able to use the Uber app even after the raid was conducted.

Authorities launched the raid at Uber's Guangzhou office after some taxi drivers complained of squeezed up daily earnings when Uber launched its car-pooling service since 2014.

Taxi Drivers' Squeezed Earnings

The car-pooling service of Uber allows app users to locate private vehicles they can hire for their transport needs.

One expert, however, said Uber did not violate any law for its car-pool service considering that most cities in China, including Guangzhou, do not have regulation for such service.

"The Guangzhou authorities have no legal grounds for investigating Uber for offering car-ooling services, as they have no law for it. But they could ask Uber to participate in a joint investigation into private car owners offering car-for-hire services, as most cities prohibit that," Zhao Zhanling, legal counsel for the Internet Society of China, told the Global Times.

TagsUber China, Uber China Raid, Uber Raid