China and the United States could start military-to-military cybersecurity talks to defuse tensions between the two powers over hacking allegations, government advisers said ahead of President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington this week.
At the upcoming summit, the two countries could agree not to hack into each others’ critical infrastructure, the experts said.
Cyberattacks would be “one of the biggest topics” to be discussed, US President Barack Obama said last week in the face of mounting pressure at home for him to confront China over allegedly stealing intellectual property from American companies.
Bilateral cybersecurity negotiations have gained little momentum over the years. Beijing halted the only formal talks after Washington charged five People’s Liberation Army officers with hacking last year.
On May 19, 2014, the US charged five members of a shadowy Chinese military unit for allegedly hacking US companies for trade secrets. Photo: AFP
Creating a separate military-to-military dialogue on cybersecurity could help the two powers move forward, said Bonnie Glaser, senior Asia adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank.
The dialogue would supplement the suspended bilateral cybersecurity working group, she said. “The [working group’s] weak point is the coordinator is housed inside the foreign ministry. It’s a problem on the Chinese side because the foreign ministry is so weak,” Glaser said.
Starting a dialogue dedicated to cybersecurity within the militaries would be beneficial even if a comprehensive cybersecurity agreement could not be reached, said Renmin University professor Jin Canrong , a Chinese government adviser.
“[A separate dialogue] is in line with China’s long-held policy of strengthening cooperation on cybersecurity,” Jin said.
But “talking is not solving the problem”, Glaser said. “We have been talking … but it has gone nowhere.”
If Xi wanted a breakthrough to mark his first state visit to the US, he might agree for the two powers not to target each other’s critical infrastructure through cyber means, she added.
The New York Times reported over the weekend that Beijing and Washington had been considering committing to such an agreement in writing.
There would be a “generic embrace” in the presidents’ statement of a UN working group’s code of conduct, which called on countries not to attack others’ critical infrastructure in peacetime, officials involved in the negotiations told the paper.
Jin said obstacles were created by Washington, which was more keen to press Beijing into making compromises than in agreeing to restrict its own use of cyberweapons.
“China has always wanted such an agreement … But the US wants China to promise more,” Jin said. “For one, the US is not happy with China’s government procurement, which increasingly favours home-grown [computer] processors over American ones.”
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