Obama administration preps for next round of cyber talks with China

The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that it will send its second-in-command to Beijing this week to discuss cybersecurity concerns with the Chinese ahead of a major meeting next month in the U.S. 

The trip is intended to give Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary of homeland security, an opportunity to catch up with officials in China before representatives for both countries meet in Washington next month to pick up on the cybersecurity discussion that President Obama and his Chinese counterpart started in September. 

On Thursday and Friday, Mr. Mayorkas will “participate in meetings with senior Chinese officials to advance implementation of bilateral commitments on cyber issues and prepare for the first U.S.-China Ministerial Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues in December,” the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. 

That event next month is slated to be the first major summit involving officials from Washington and Beijing after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the White House in September and agreed to curb cyberattacks against American computer networks.

“China and the United States are two major cyber countries, and we should strengthen dialogue and cooperation. Confrontation and friction are not the right choice for both sides,” Mr. Xi said after meeting with Mr. Obama. 

The U.S. president said at the time that he stressed to Mr. Xi “very serious concerns about growing cyberthreats to American companies and American citizens,” but claimed the two had “reached a common understanding on a way forward.”

Despite that supposed agreement, however, American cybersecurity analysts have claimed in the interim that Chinese hackers have been unrelenting in their attacks on U.S. networks, waging cyberassaults within hours of the September meeting notwithstanding the pact. 

FireEye, a California-based cybersecurity firm, said Chinese hackers have targeted American networks since late September and “the primary benefit of the intrusions seems clearly aligned to facilitate theft of intellectual property and trade secrets, rather than to conduct traditional national security-related intelligence collection which the cyber agreement does not prohibit.”

“President Obama made clear that the United States would judge China not based on its words, not based on any verbal commitments, but based on its actions. And so you can rest assured that the relevant agencies in the United States government are closely monitoring China’s actions in this regard,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said last month after reports emerged concerning further Chinese-led cyberattacks in the wake of the agreement. 

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Loretta Lynch are slated to represent the U.S. at next month’s meeting in Washington. Counterterrorism, combating transnational crime and Coast Guard conduct at sea are also on the agenda this week in China, the statement said.