It looks like President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping have reached a “common understanding” regarding cyber-espionage between the two countries. Both countries have vowed to never conduct or knowingly support the theft of intellectual property from one another, and President Obama has made it clear that further cyber-attacks from Chinese hackers will result in sanctions. However, President Obama also asked whether words will be followed by actions.
President Barack Obama announced on Friday that he had reached a “common understanding” with Chinese President Xi Jinping on curbing economic cyber espionage, but threatened to impose U.S. sanctions on Chinese hackers who persist with cyber crimes. The two leaders also unveiled a deal to build on a landmark emissions agreement struck last year, outlining new steps they will take to deliver on pledges they made then to slash their greenhouse gas emissions. Speaking after White House talks during Xi’s first U.S. state visit, Obama quickly homed in on the thorniest dispute between the world’s two biggest economies – growing U.S. complaints about Chinese hacking of government and corporate databases, and the suspicion in Washington that Beijing is sometimes behind it. “It has to stop,” Obama told reporters at a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden, with Xi standing beside him. Obama said he and Xi made “significant progress” on cyber security. But he added warily: “The question now is, are words followed by actions?”
