US, China reach historic agreement on cyber espionage
The United States and China have reached a historic agreement on cyber security, pledging that neither would conduct cyber espionage against the other country.
US President Barack Obama said during a press conference Friday with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping that the two countries have reached a “common understanding” not to conduct theft of trade secrets and intellectual property in cyberspace.
“I raised, once again, our rising concerns about growing cyber threats to American companies and American citizens. I indicated that it has to stop,” Obama said.
“We have agreed that neither the US nor the Chinese government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information for commercial advantage,” the US president stated.
The United States has for years accused China of stealing trade secrets and other information from US companies, while insisting that it does not conduct cyber theft for purposes of economic or commercial gain.
Beijing has long denied such activity. The intelligence disclosures of former National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, about widespread US cyber operations overseas have also given China ammunition to counter the US claims.
“China strongly opposes and combats the theft of commercial secrets and other kinds of hacking attacks,” Xi said at the press conference.
The two countries have also agreed to establish a high-level joint dialogue on cyber crime so that officials can review allegations of cyber espionage.
Obama said the US would be watching closely to see “if words are followed by actions,” and would not hesitate to use punitive measures in case of a violation.
US officials said earlier this month that the Obama administration was preparing to impose sanctions on Chinese companies linked to the alleged cyber theft of American intellectual property.
The recent theft of millions of government employees' personal data, which US officials blamed on China, added new urgency to the negotiations leading up to the agreement.
However, officials said the deal does not cover such traditional espionage by cyber means.
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