Trump administration and Chinese officials met on Oct. 4 to discuss a 2015 agreement between then-President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, reaffirming the countries’ commitment to preventing cybercrime.

At the first ever U.S.-China Law Enforcement Cybersecurity Dialogue (LECD), U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke met with Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun.

“Both sides reiterated that all consensus and cooperative documents achieved at the three rounds of the China-U.S. High-Level Joint Dialogue on Combating Cyber Crimes and Related Issues since 2015 remain valid,” a Department of Justice press release said. “Both sides intend to improve cooperation with each other on cybercrime, including sharing cybercrime-related leads and information, and responding to Mutual Legal Assistance requests, in a timely manner, including with regard to cyber fraud (including business email compromises), hacking crimes, abuse of internet for terrorist purposes, and internet dissemination of child pornography.”

The original agreement, made between then U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, aimed to find common understanding over the cyber theft of intellectual property and consisted of five main points:

  • Requests for information and assistance concerning malicious cyber activities will receive timely responses.
  • Neither government will conduct or support the cyber theft of intellectual property.
  • Both countries will make a common effort to establish international norms of state behavior within cyberspace.
  • Both countries will maintain a dialogue on fighting cybercrime.
  • Both countries will commit to enhancing law enforcement communication over cybercrimes.

Since the original agreement, both countries have recommitted to the agreement, and President Trump discussed the importance of cyber policies when he met with President Xi back in April of this year.

“While differences remain, both sides intend to make actual progress on all of the above matters, to make possible another dialogue in 2018 to measure that progress,” the press release said.

Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.

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