“I indicated it has to stop”.
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News of this deal, first revealed on Thursday, was followed up before their press conference in the White House rose garden on Friday with further details of China’s willingness to help other countries deal with the impact of climate change.
But despite what he described as “significant progress”, including the establishment of a high-level joint dialogue mechanism, Mr Obama said he would not rule out invoking sanctions if violations persisted. If I am an American business and I’m being hacked by Chinese pirates who are trying to steal my intellectual property, what firm assurances can you give us today that things are going to get better, and when? The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), essentially the federal government’s HR department, admits hackers stole 5.6 million fingerprints from their servers.
On the thorny issue of China’s disputed territorial claims, which have unnerved some US partners in Asia, Xi said the Chinese have “the right to uphold our own sovereignty”.
“Islands in the South China Sea since ancient times are Chinese territory”, Xi said.
‘The question now is: are words followed by actions?’ he said at a joint press conference with Xi.
Xi, however, denied that militarization was taking place. Analysts say the agreement between the worlds two biggest economies is just a start but could lead to real progress on the cybertheft issue, depending on how well its implemented.
During Obama’s visit to Beijing previous year, China and the United States both said they will reduce climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions – an agreement seen as a landmark moment for the world’s two worst polluters.
Xi was greeted on his arrival at the White House Friday morning with a spectacular ceremony on the South Lawn that featured a military honor guard and 21-gun salute.
“We will apply those, and whatever other tools we have in our tool kit, to go after cybercriminals either retrospectively or prospectively”, he said. “I believe that the threat of sanctions brought President Xi to the negotiating table, and President Obama must make clear to his counterparts that sanctions will be levied on rogue actors in cyberspace”. Among the guests invited to the dinner was the China director for Human Rights Watch, a nod by the White House to the groups working to expose abuses by the Chinese government. “But we certainly think that the deterioration of the rights situation in China under Xi merits special attention”.
Both China and the United States support the maintenance of peace and stability in the South China Sea, as well as a peaceful solution to disputes among directly concerned parties through negotiations and consultations, he said.
Xi said he and Obama agreed to step up prosecutions and cooperate on investigations of cybercrime, including creating a hotline between officials in the two countries.
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Regarding the issue of Tibet, Obama said, “Even as we recognise Tibet as part of the People’s Republic of China, we continue to encourage Chinese authorities to preserve the religious and cultural identity of the Tibetan people, and to engage the Dalai Lama or his representatives”.
