China, US to hold high-level talks on hacking, cybersecurity
Top US and Chinese officials will convene this week in Washington for the first round of cybersecurity talks following the signing of an anti-hacking accord in September.
China's Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun is in Washington until Sunday and will meet US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Chinese state media reported. US Attorney General Loretta Lynch is also expected to take part in the discussions.
The talks on Tuesday and Wednesday are seen as potentially significant in establishing acceptable norms for cyber espionage. It also marks an ongoing effort to repair relations after China withdrew from a working group last year in response to the US indictment of five members of its military on charges it hacked six American companies.
READ MORE: Chinese hackers tried to breach security at seven US firms since Xi and Obama signed cyber deal, security company says
Cyber security has long been an irritant in relations between China and the United States, despite robust economic ties worth US$590 billion in two-way trade last year.
The September agreement, brokered during President Xi Jinping's official state visit to Washington, included a pledge that neither country would knowingly carry out hacking for commercial advantages.
The pact also underscored a long-standing but unspoken agreement among many countries that hacking in pursuit of traditional espionage purposes is fair game, but infiltrating private sector computer systems for economic gain should be prohibited.
The Group of 20 nations has agreed to a similar set of hacking rules barring espionage on the private sector.
Reviews gauging China's commitment to limiting its hacking have so far been mixed.
While some observers have noticed a recent slowdown in activity, US counter-intelligence chief Bill Evanina said he had seen no indication that China's hacking behaviour had changed.
CrowdStrike, a US cyber security firm, released a report shortly after Xi's state visit in which several American companies claimed detection of attempted hacks connected to the Chinese government.
READ MORE: China denies hacking data on four million US government staff
The Washington Post, however, reported on Monday that officials have witnessed a decline in hacks on US companies since the indictments last year.
China, Russia and Iran are among the US's most prolific and sophisticated hacking adversaries.
US officials have privately blamed Beijing for a massive hack on federal employee records earlier this year, which exposed sensitive personal information of more than 22 million current and former government workers.