China reaches important consensus with U.S. on cyber security

His comments came as reports from Washington quoted Mr. Obama as saying during the weekend that cyber attacks from China were "not acceptable"

A day after U.S. President Barack Obama warned that cyber attacks from China were “not acceptable”, China on Sunday said it has reached “important consensus” with the U.S. on combating cyber crimes.

The consensus was reached during a visit by President Xi Jinping’s special envoy Meng Jianzhu, a Politburo member of the ruling-Communist Party of China, to Washington, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

Mr. Meng visit took place ahead of Chinese President Xi’s first state visit to the U.S. later this month, dates for which are yet to be announced.

During the visit from Wednesday to Saturday, Mr. Meng exchanged in-depth views on tackling outstanding issues of law enforcement and security, including cyber crimes, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Mr. Meng, who led a delegation composed of officials from the ministries of public security, state security, justice and information technology, said that against the backdrop of frequent incidents in cyberspace, it is especially important for the two countries to enhance mutual trust and cooperation.

Stressing China’s firm stand against cyber attacks and commercial cyber espionage, Mr. Meng said anyone who conducts such acts in the Chinese territory violates the laws of China and will be subject to legal liability.

China-U.S. dialogue and cooperation on combating cybercrime serve the common interest of both countries and the international community, he said.

His comments came as reports from Washington quoted Mr. Obama as saying during the weekend that cyber attacks from China were “not acceptable”, a message which he was expected to deliver to Mr. Xi during the Chinese President’s visit.

Mr. Obama said state actors needed to agree to rules in order to stop cyber crises from escalating.

“There comes a point at which we consider this a core national security threat and will treat it as such,” he said.

“We have been very clear to the Chinese that there are certain practices that they are engaging in, that we know are emanating from China and are not acceptable,” he said.

In the toughest message so far, Mr. Obama said states could “chose to make this [cyberattacks] an area of competition”.

But, he warned, if that path was chosen, it would be a competition that “I guarantee you, we will win if we have to,” media reports here quoted the U.S. President as saying.

“Alternatively, we can come to an agreement in which we say this isn’t helping anybody, lets instead have some basic rules of the road,” he said.