Two high-level discussions between U.S. administration and Chinese government officials occurred in the previous two days in the context of a joint dialogue on cybersecurity, resulting in several agreed upon outcomes, the White House said Dec. 2.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson co-chaired the first U.S.-China High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues with Chinese State Councilor Guo Shengkun in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1 and Dec. 2. Initially planned through Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Obama’s joint commitments during the former’s September state visit, the dialogue aimed to review the timelines and quality of responses to requests for information and assistance with respect to cybercrime or other malicious cyber activities between the two countries, a Justice Department statement said.
Beyond officials from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, other U.S. representatives included members of the Department of State, National Security Council, and Intelligence Community. Other Chinese delegation members included representatives from the Committee of Political and Legal Affairs of CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Justice, and the State Internet Information Office.
One dialogue goal is to enhance cooperation between the U.S. and China on cybercrime issues. Working towards that goal, both countries reached five specific outcomes within the bounds of the countries’ legal frameworks.
The first outcome was an agreement by the co-chairs on a document establishing guidelines for requesting assistance on cybercrime or other malicious cyber activities and for responding to such requests. The guidelines also establish a common understanding and expectations regarding information to be included in such requests and the timeliness of responses, the administration said.
The nations also agreed to conduct a tabletop exercise in the spring of 2016 concerning agreed-upon cybercrime, malicious cyber activity, and network protection scenarios. The exercise is meant to increase mutual understanding regarding the nations’ respective authorities, processes, and procedures. Both sides agreed that during the exercise they would assess proposals from both countries: China’s proposal for a seminar on combating terrorist misuse of technology and communications and the U.S. proposal to invite experts to conduct network protection exchanges.
Furthermore, China and the United States decided to start development of the scope, goals, and procedures for use of a cyber hotline before the next High-Level Dialogue. This is in line with the September presidents’ agreement committing to the establishments of a hotline “for the escalation of issues that may arise in the course of responding to such [cybercrime and other malicious cyber activities] requests.”
Fourth, the countries decided to further develop case cooperation on combating cyber-enabled crimes, including child exploitation, theft of trade secrets, fraud and misuse of technology and communications for terrorist activities, and to enhance exchanges on network protection. Network protection cooperation in particular will involve improving cooperation among relevant agencies within the dialogue framework, the administration said.
U.S. and Chinese cyber incident and network protection experts were to next meet on Dec. 3 with regularly continuing meetings during future bilateral dialogues.
Finally, co-chairs Lynch, Johnson, and Guo decided to schedule the second dialogue for June 2016 in Beijing, China.
A second high-level meeting occurred at the conclusion of the dialogue on Dec. 2 when National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco met with State Councilor Guo. Rice and Monaco met with Guo “to underscore the importance of full adherence to the U.S.-China cyber commitments made during President Xi’s September 2015 State Visit,” the White House said in a statement.
During the second meeting Rice and Guo agreed on other security issues including that ISIL poses a threat to both the United States and China. The officials had discussions looking at steps that could strengthen the countries’ coordination addressing ISIL. Both delegations also “agreed on the importance of expanding practical bilateral cooperation while also dealing directly with our differences in order to continue developing the U.S.-China relationship,” the White House said.
Although there was a recent Washington Post report on Chinese arrests of purported perpetrators of the OPM hack, the White House highlighted the importance of the dialogue and any incremental progress on cyber cooperation independent of the OPM hack.
“The fact that the dialogue, however, is taking place is an important step. Being able to communicate clearly with our Chinese counterparts–whether they’re national security officials or law enforcement officials–is important, and can strengthen the relationship between our two countries, and can advance goals that both of our countries share, and can certainly address the substantial concerns that we have raised,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Dec. 2.
“I would acknowledge it represents modest progress that we can even begin talking about these issues. But those conversations are important, nonetheless, and hopefully can serve as a forum for more and continued information-sharing between our two countries on this issue,” Earnest added.