Cyber dialogue playing 'important role'

Senior Chinese and US officials pledged to increase their cooperation in cybersecurity after concluding a two-day talk in Washington.

Chinese State Councilor Guo Shengkun and US National Security Advisor Susan Rice both praised the enhanced cooperation between the two countries in cybersecurity when they met on Thursday, according to a press release from the Chinese delegation to the Third China-US High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues.

Guo described the dialogue mechanism as "playing an important role in building trust, narrowing differences and achieving win-win cooperation".

Rice spoke positively of the progress between the two countries in cooperation in cybersecurity and law enforcement in recent years, saying that cybersecurity has turned from an area of friction in US-China relations into an area of cooperation, according to Chinese officials who quoted Rice as saying.

Both Guo and Rice pledged to deepen their cooperation in the field to inject positive momentum into the bilateral relationship.

Guo, also China's minister of public security, co-chaired the dialogue in Washington with US Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

A joint outcome document released by both sides on late Thursday said that they will continue combating cybercrime and cyber-enabled crime.

It said both sides recommitted to cooperating on the investigation of cybercrimes and malicious cyber activities emanating from China or the US and to refrain from cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.

Both vow to continue the mechanism to evaluate the effectiveness of case cooperation. Both countries intend to focus cooperation on hacking and cyber-enabled fraud cases, share cybercrime-related leads and information with each other in a timely manner, and determine priority cases for continued law enforcement cooperation.

Both sides intend to continue cooperation on cases involving online distribution of child pornography.

The two sides also believe that enhancing network protection is beneficial to both. They suggest holding regular network-protection working-level meetings, according to the outcome document.

Both sides also decided to continue cooperation on information-sharing in countering the use of the internet for terrorism and other criminal purposes. Both welcomed the launch of the China-US Cybercrime and Related Issues Hotline Mechanism and will conduct routine reviews of the use of the hotline.

Both sides recommend that the dialogue mechanism continue, and the fourth dialogue should be held in 2017, according to the document.

An official in the Chinese delegation, who declined to be named, noted that progress already has been made in the above fields in the past year.

On Wednesday afternoon, Guo and Johnson also co-chaired the third ministerial meeting between the Ministry of Public Security and the US Department of Homeland Security in a bid to expand their law enforcement cooperation. Guo also met separately with Lynch.

The first dialogue was held in Washington last December under a consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama during Xi's state visit to the US in September.

While the situation in cybersecurity between the two countries became contentious last year following the hacking of US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the dialogue mechanism has enabled the two governments to solve problems through cooperation and managing differences, according to the Chinese source.

He described the dialogue as "the highest-level, most expansive and broadest-scoped cooperation platform" and "the most candid, most practical, fastest-developing and most fruitful communication channel" for the two countries in cybersecurity field.

He expressed that the Chinese government is truly determined to crack down on cybercrimes.

He said both China and the US are vulnerable to cyberattacks.

"Cooperation in cybersecurity is the shared interest for both countries," he said.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com