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Obama and Xi Jinping of China Agree to Steps on Cybertheft Obama and Xi Jinping of China Agree to Steps on Cybertheft
(about 7 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Friday that he had reached a “common understanding” with President Xi Jinping of China to combat “cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property,” but made it clear that wide areas of disagreement remained over how to stop an escalation of Chinese cyberthefts and the possibility of an American response. WASHINGTON — President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China took their first concrete steps on Friday toward reining in the rising threat of cyberattacks between the world’s two largest economies, pledging that their governments would refrain from computer-enabled theft of intellectual property for commercial gain even as Mr. Obama suggested that he might still impose sanctions if rampant Chinese hacking persisted.
With Mr. Xi standing beside him at a Rose Garden news conference, Mr. Obama referred to the cyberattacks against American targets and said, “I indicated it has to stop.” But he also hailed progress with China on climate change and the nuclear accord with Iran, and said that both he and Mr. Xi were committed to pressing ahead against the North Korean nuclear problem, which has defied solution for more than 20 years. With Mr. Xi standing beside him at a Rose Garden news conference, Mr. Obama said the two had reached a “common understanding” that neither the United States nor China should engage in state-sponsored cyberintrusions to poach intellectual property, and that they would together seek “international rules of the road for appropriate conduct in cyberspace.”
It was evident from the comments of both leaders that they had not reached an agreement on China’s reclamation of islands in the South China Sea, which Mr. Xi defended during his own remarks, saying that Beijing supported the “freedom of navigation according to international law.” That suggested that no accord had been reached on China’s claim that the islands are its sovereign territory. But Mr. Obama said that he had told the Chinese president during two hours of meetings at the White House that the escalating cycle of cyberattacks against American targets “has to stop,” warning Mr. Xi that the United States would go after and punish perpetrators of those offenses through traditional law enforcement tools and, potentially, with sanctions.
But both Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi made an effort to demonstrate that the two countries had made progress on curbing cyberattacks, even while skirting direct references to some of the most contentious issues, including the American claim that China was behind the theft of security dossiers on roughly 22 million Americans from the Office of Personnel Management. “The question now is, ‘Are words followed by actions?’ ”Mr. Obama said of China’s commitments on cyberthreats. “And we will be watching carefully to make an assessment as to whether progress has been made in this area.”
“Confrontation and friction are not the right choice,” Mr. Xi said. It was the third set of meetings between Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi in the last three years, and it came at a potential pivot point in United States-China relations, with the Obama administration determined to find areas where it can cooperate with Beijing but increasingly wary of its behavior. Besides their meeting at the White House, the two presidents spent more than two and a half hours together Thursday night at a private dinner at Blair House, across from the White House.
A joint statement issued by the White House indicated that the two leaders had agreed that “neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.” Mr. Xi repeated those words, but said nothing of cyberespionage. At their news conference, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi made an effort to demonstrate that they had made progress on curbing cyberattacks, even as they skirted direct references to some of the most contentious issues, including the United States’ claim that China was behind the theft of security dossiers on roughly 22 million Americans from the Office of Personnel Management.
The two countries also embraced a United Nations accord, adopted in July, that commits the signatories not to target one another’s critical infrastructure — power plants, cellphone networks and financial transactions — in peacetime. But that leaves open many questions, since there are many definitions of what constitutes critical infrastructure. “Confrontation and friction are not the right choice,” Mr. Xi said. “Confrontation will lead to losses on both sides.”
While Mr. Obama hailed the agreement, he said the question now was, “Are words followed by actions?” The pledge on cybersecurity — a hard-fought and not entirely expected bit of progress that was still under negotiation until the final hours before the two presidents met — came as Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi sought to spotlight their cooperation on the world stage.
“We will be watching carefully,” he said. They hailed progress on climate change, with Mr. Xi announcing a new commitment to start a national cap-and-trade system in 2017 to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and both countries outlining ambitious goals for reaching a global climate pact at a December summit meeting in Paris, including winning commitments from every country to reduce emissions. They also celebrated their cooperation on the nuclear accord with Iran and said they were both committed to pressing ahead against the North Korean nuclear problem, which has defied solution for more than 20 years.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi spoke in the Rose Garden after meeting for more than two hours in the White House. But there was ample evidence, even as Mr. Obama welcomed Mr. Xi with a 21-gun salute and a state dinner on Friday night, that the two nations remain deeply at odds on key issues.
The morning began with an elaborate White House welcome, complete with a 21-gun salute that reverberated across the South Lawn as a military band played the national anthem and then “March of Volunteers,” the anthem of the People’s Republic of China since the 1949 revolution. Speaking in the Rose Garden, they clashed over China’s reclamation of islands in the South China Sea, which Mr. Xi defiantly defended, suggesting that China’s buildup on artificial islands in the strategic waterway would move ahead and flatly denying that it was militarizing any territory.
Protesters were kept at a distance, a block from the White House, and their chants could only be heard faintly from the South Lawn. The elaborate welcome ceremony, designed to project a strong partnership between the world’s two largest economies even as the leaders prepared to hash out a range of contentious disputes, went off without the heckling that so angered the Chinese when President George W. Bush hosted Mr. Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, in 2006. Mr. Obama said he told Mr. Xi that he had “significant concerns” over the activities, “which makes it harder for countries in the region to resolve disagreements peacefully.” While the United States has no territorial claim in the waters, he added, “we just want to make sure that the rules of the road are upheld.”
Mr. Obama spoke of the long history of “friendship and cooperation between our two great peoples,” citing the Chinese immigrants who “helped build our railroads and our great cities.” The Chinese president stuck to his guns, bluntly asserting, “We have the right to uphold our own territorial sovereignty and lawful and legitimate maritime rights and interests.” Mr. Xi said China’s construction activities “do not target or impact any country, and China does not intend to pursue militarization.”
“When the United States and China work together, it makes our nations and the world more prosperous and secure,” Mr. Obama said. But in a nod to the countries’ substantial disagreements, he added, “Even as our nations cooperate, I believe, and I know that you agree, we must address our differences candidly.” The exchange underscored the degree to which Mr. Xi has in many ways confounded Mr. Obama’s hopes and expectations.
For Mr. Xi, the most important outcome of the trip was his ability to project an image of strength and command while China’s markets, and its economy, are suffering one of their worst downturns in decades of remarkable growth. His first stop — in Seattle, where he met with American technology leaders eager for greater inroads in the Chinese market but concerned about China’s demands for access to their technology and the data that runs on their networks — was designed to show that America’s most famous capitalists had to pay homage. “As the most powerful leader in China in decades, Mr. Xi presented an opportunity for greater collaboration,” said Bonnie S. Glaser, senior adviser on Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Instead, he “turned out to be an ultranationalist, bent on achieving the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation even if it meant damaging ties with the U.S. as well as China’s neighbors.”
But the White House also wanted to celebrate areas of cooperation, and American officials leaked word late Thursday of a broad agreement between the two leaders on climate change. The keystone of that pact is a landmark commitment Mr. Xi will make to begin a national cap-and-trade program in 2017 that will place an annual limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allow companies to buy and sell permits to pollute. In another point of friction, Mr. Obama said he had deep concerns over human rights in China, describing what sounded like a lecture he had given to Mr. Xi about the issue.
The two presidents are expected to point to their cooperation on combating the planet’s warming as evidence of their ability to put aside differences and use their heft on the global stage to tackle major problems, while also intensifying pressure on other nations to follow their lead. “I expressed in candid terms our strong views that preventing journalists, lawyers, NGOs and civil society groups from operating freely, or closing churches or denying ethnic minorities equal treatment, are all problematic in our view, and actually prevent China and its people from realizing its full potential,” Mr. Obama said, using an acronym for nongovernmental organizations, which face strict restrictions under proposed legislation in China.
Mr. Obama’s aides knew that a dinner Thursday night at Blair House, across the street from the White House, and the meetings Friday in the Oval Office had to be focused on an array of topics that divide the leaders. Those issues include cyberattacks for which Mr. Obama has threatened sanctions against China, the Chinese military’s reclamation of islands and atolls in disputed areas of the South China Sea, and human rights. The stern message elicited only a generic response from Mr. Xi, who said democracy and human rights were “the common procedure of mankind,” but then added, “We must recognize that countries have different historical processes and realities, that we need to respect people of all countries in the right to choose their own development independently.”
American and Chinese officials have been negotiating intensely to reach a preliminary deal on cyberattacks, an irritant in their relationship that has festered for two years. It has taken on new urgency at the White House since a hacking episode at the Office of Personnel Management allowed the theft of 22 million security dossiers and 5.6 million fingerprints. Officials have been discussing a pact that would amount to an agreement not to attack each other’s critical infrastructure during peacetime. Even the agreement on cybersecurity left room for differences. The United States and China said they would cooperate with requests to investigate cybercrimes and, according to a White House fact sheet, “mitigate malicious cyberactivity emanating from their territory.” But while Mr. Obama said they had agreed on “the principle that governments don’t engage in cyberespionage for commercial gain against companies,” Mr. Xi said nothing of computer-enabled spying, speaking only of “cybercrime,” a narrower formulation.
But they were under pressure to do more, because such an agreement would be largely symbolic — neither country would gain from such an attack unless it was part of broader hostilities — and it would not address state-sponsored theft of intellectual property or personal information, one of the most delicate areas. The two countries also embraced a United Nations accord, adopted in July, that commits the signatories not to target one another’s critical infrastructure — such as power plants, cellphone networks and financial transactions — in peacetime. But that leaves open many questions, since there are many definitions of what constitutes critical infrastructure.
Before the discussions on China’s move to build runways and other infrastructure on artificial islands in contested parts of the South China Sea, the Chinese foreign ministry put out talking points, saying the vast expanse of that sea is “a big place that can accommodate freedom of navigation by all.” But at the same time, they argued that the new islands were Chinese territory, and that the United States should not interfere in the question of ownership. The morning began with an elaborate White House welcome, complete with cannons reverberating across the South Lawn as a military band played “March of Volunteers,” the anthem of the People’s Republic of China since the 1949 revolution, and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The two leaders strolled across the grass reviewing neat rows of troops, then stopped to shake hands with crowds of children waving American and Chinese flags, including some who attend Washington Yu Ying Academy, a Chinese immersion school.
White House officials said Mr. Obama would also raise his concern about China’s proposed legislation on foreign nongovernmental organizations, which the White House regards as a way to restrict the rights of civil society groups, academics and others in the name of security. There will be glimmers of agreement beyond climate change, however, including on economic issues. The two leaders will most likely reiterate their determination to work together on an investment treaty, although they are unlikely to make progress on it during this visit. Later, they announced a “One Million Strong” initiative that aims to have a million American students learning Mandarin by 2020.
They are also aiming for a deal to expand educational exchanges between the United States and China. And there is likely to be an agreement on rules governing episodes involving Chinese and American military aircraft, aimed at avoiding accidents or confrontations. Both pro- and anti-China protesters were kept a block from the White House throughout the meeting, and the day’s events went off without an incident like the heckling that so angered the Chinese when President George W. Bush hosted Mr. Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, in 2006.
Their meetings began Thursday night with a working dinner at Blair House, where Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi, along with senior members of their administrations, spent about two and a half hours in private discussions.