Uber’s China unit has warned its drivers to avoid confrontations with police and rival taxi drivers or risk losing their contracts, as the US-based car hailing service seeks to avoid regulatory scrutiny in a country where authorities are extra sensitive to instances of “social instability”.

According to a statement posted by Uber on Sina Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, the company urged drivers in the eastern city of Hangzhou to “protect social harmony and stability” after one of its drivers got tangled up with a taxi driver in a recent incident.

There has been a recent upsurge of cases in which taxi drivers or plainclothes police pose as passengers seeking rides from Uber or other ride-hailing services, and then detain the driver and his vehicle. Some drivers caught in such stings have responded by appealing to other private car operators to rush to their aid.