But as Xi arrived in Washington late Thursday for a grand state visit, it was clear that Obama’s overtures have produced decidedly mixed results.
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Peng is in Seattle with her husband, Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Xi’s seven-day trip, from his visits to Boeing and tech giants to his casual, open-shirt stroll with President Barack Obama through White House gardens, is receiving blanket coverage at home.
As for the possibility of sanctions, against either individuals, businesses or state-run companies, he said: “We will apply those, and whatever other tools we have in our tool kit, to go after cybercriminals either retrospectively or prospectively”.
“We have agreed that neither the USA or 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”.
“Confrontation and friction are not the right choices for either side”.
The summit will yield the commitment by China, the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases, to begin a national “cap-and-trade” program in 2017 to limit emissions, USA officials said.
“The Chinese government should be held accountable for its actions and President Obama should be prepared to respond appropriately”, McCaul said.
“We may be giving China a pass on all past behavior, so I don’t know if this actually teaches the Chinese that they need to better comply or there will be sanctions”, Kennedy said.
Don Bonker, a former USA congressman from Washington state, also attended the event on Tuesday evening in Seattle. He said construction work on artificial islands doesn’t “target or impact any country, and China does not intend to pursue militarization”.
Jeremie Waterman, executive director for China at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said he hoped the agreement “marks a new chapter” and leads to real progress. But he promised respect for freedom of navigation and overflight.
Bi-lateral trade and economic agreements are critical to the economic survival of both nations and it seems likely that the two presidents will have a discussion or two about it this week. China also will announce a significant contribution to finance efforts in developing countries, senior administration officials said.
Xi countered that “countries have different historical processes and realities” and said nations “choose their own development independently”.
U.S.-China Business Council President John Frisbie said the policy speech by Xi in Seattle was an opportunity for him to address the current uncertainties in the U.S.-China relationship. “We and our companies continue to have serious concerns with an overall lack of legal and regulatory transparency, inconsistent protection of intellectual property, discriminatory cyber and technology policies”, she said, “and more generally the lack of a level playing field across a range of sectors”.
Xi came to Lincoln High School in Tacoma on Wednesday afternoon, the most public stop in his three-day visit to Washington state before he heads to the White House later this week. Obama has faced calls from some Republican presidential candidates to scale back the grandeur of Xi’s visit, which included an Oval Office meeting, the joint news conference and a black-tie dinner.
The New York Times reported earlier this week that the us and China has been negotiating such a deal, under which both countries would agree to foreswear cyber attacks against critical infrastructure in peacetime.
Climate change is one of the few areas where bilateral cooperation has proceeded smoothly in recent months, largely because Beijing has struggled to contain heavy air, water and soil pollution that has destroyed farmland, sent cancer rates soaring and left its cities cloaked in dense smog.
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USA and Chinese officials sought to cast their talks in a favourable light by showcasing at least one area of cooperation – the global fight against climate change.
