Cybersecurity main fault line in US-Chinese ties: Analyst

Cybersecurity is one of the “main fault lines in the increasingly competitive” ties between China and the United States, an expert of Chinese affairs says.

Frank Pieke, who is professor of Modern China Studies at Leiden University, the Netherlands, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Thursday.

He was commenting on a report which says the US and China have reached an agreement on how to begin cooperating on cybersecurity.

The agreement underlines guidelines on sharing computer security information, a hotline to discuss issues, a so-called tabletop cybersecurity exercise and more dialogue between the two nations on concerns such as the theft of trade secrets.

“At the moment it’s still difficult to say exactly what this agreement will entail, because exact details are not known, at least to me,” Professor Pieke said.  

“But it is clear that cybersecurity is one of the main fault lines in the increasingly competitive relationship between China and the United States, and that resolutions over this issue are an important part in the continuing mutually beneficial economic and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries,” he added.

 “It is also important to remind ourselves of the fact that cybersecurity is not mainly about strategic or military information as it is about commercial espionage for profit those by military and private enterprises,” the academic noted.

The United States and China reached a historic agreement on cyber security during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington in September, pledging that neither would conduct cyber espionage against the other country.

US President Barack Obama announced on September 25 that the two countries reached a “common understanding” not to conduct theft of trade secrets and intellectual property in cyberspace.

“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,” Obama 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.

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