Cybersecurity concerns overshadow Xi’s visit

DISPUTES over what’s acceptable behaviour in cyberspace threaten to overshadow the agenda when Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama meet in Washington this week.

A simmering conflict over hacking comes at a time when the US is seeking co-operation with China on issues from North Korea to anti-terrorism and climate change. Xi arrives in Washington on Thursday.

The two sides hope to announce an agreement to limit certain types of hacking, though people familiar with the talks say these have been contentious.

“Cybersecurity is shaping up to be one of those things whose impact is so enormous that it could affect the trajectory of the relationship,” Wang Fan, the director of the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, said. Xi and Obama would probably only reach an agreement in principle or risk “derailing the entire bilateral relation”.

US government agencies and firms are reeling from a string of sophisticated attacks alleged to have been carried out by the Chinese government or its proxies, including the theft of corporate information.

China denies being involved, saying it is a victim of cyber-espionage itself and opposes hacking.

“We are preparing a number of measures that will indicate to the Chinese that this is not just a matter of us being mildly upset,” Obama said last week. It was his most forceful comment to date and indicates frustration within the US over what it says is Chinese theft of trade secrets and intellectual property.

Obama said his “hope” was that the US, China and other countries could agree to “some basic international framework” governing cybersecurity activities.

One goal is a bilateral deal embracing a code of conduct put forward by a UN working group in June, saying no country should intentionally damage critical infrastructure providing public services. – Bloomberg