Chinese public security chief heads to US for talks on cybercrime

The first high-level dialogue between the United States and China on cybercrime is under way this week to flesh out a deal reached in September by the presidents of the two countries.

State media reported on Sunday that Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun would be in the US until Thursday. Guo would also co-chair a ministerial meeting with Jeh Johnson, Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Xinhua said.

READ MORE: Xi and Obama agree on cybercrime cooperation meetings as threat of sanctions of alleged theft of trade secrets looms

During President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US in September, the two countries agreed that they would launch biannual ministerial-level talks on cybersecurity by the end of this year. Talks on the subject had been suspended a year earlier after the US charged five Chinese military officers with hacking. US President Barack Obama said he and Xi agreed that neither government would knowingly support cybertheft of corporate secrets to support domestic businesses.

Renmin University international relations professor Shi Yinhong said the talks would aim to nail down detailed points of agreement on cybersecurity but a breakthrough would be difficult to realise.

“[The two countries] agreed not to attack companies from the other country. But the agreement is very general and mutual trust is very fragile,” Shi said.

Just weeks after Xi’s trip, US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released a report in which seven US companies claimed to have detected attacks from hackers associated with the Chinese government.

“Without further talks to make detailed rules, the agreement will be a hollow one. But it is difficult to make progress on cybersecurity, judging by the level of mutual trust at the moment,” Shi said.