“We’ve made very clear to the Chinese that there are certain practices that they’re engaging in that we know are emanating from China and are not acceptable”, Obama said last Friday at Fort Meade.
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Hacking concerns have loomed over a scheduled state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on September 25.
The U.S.is “still the best” at cyber warfare, he said.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama was “intentionally non-specific” in the comments but added that the economic sanctions the United States has used over cyber espionage have had a deterrent effect.
The White House is supposedly keen to avoid any potential disagreements before a landmark visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“But there is an agreement, and there are not going to be any sanctions” before the Chinese leader lands in Washington on September 24, the official said.
In an interview with state news agency Xinhua, state councilor Yang Jiechi said China was ready to discuss human rights with other countries including the USA “on the basis of mutual respect”.
At least 1,300 political and religious prisoners are believed to be detained in China, according to a database compiled by the US congressional commission.
Last month, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said turmoil in China’s stock markets should encourage Beijing to open the economy more quickly to foreign services companies, including banks, and that it hoped to see progress during Xi’s visit.
But some in Washington are calling on Obama to keep the cork in the champagne.
USA officials have pointed to China as the source of a hack into government personnel records that exposed personal data of millions of current and former federal employees, possibly for intelligence purposes.
But for now, sanctions are not on the table after an unannounced set of meetings between Chinese and USA officials worked out at least the framework for some sort of cooperation on cybersecurity issues.
China buys more than 60 percent of the globally-traded volume of soybeans, and the crop is routinely on the shopping list of Chinese leaders visiting the United States, the world’s second-biggest exporter.
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As a trailblazer for U.S.-China ties whose clandestine, ice-breaking visit to China in 1971 paved the way for the establishment of diplomatic relations, Kissinger witnessed the impressive changes China has undergone over the past decades.
