'I indicated it has to stop': Obama gets tough on cyberspying as new China-US pact agreed against threat of sanctions

The leaders of China and the United States agreed on Friday to take new steps to address cyberspying, vowing that neither country’s government would conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property.

The two nations also agreed to step up cooperation on combating transnational crime, and on repatriation of fugitives, following the talks between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Speaking to reporters after the talks, Obama said the two nations had agreed not to conduct or condone cyber attacks on each other’s private sector for commercial gains.

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“I indicated it has to stop,” Obama said, referring to rising concerns of the US that China was involved in cybertheft.

Obama said he did not discuss specific cases with Xi.

The White House said the two nations agreed to create a high-level joint dialogue for fighting cybercrime, and were committed to finding appropriate norms of state behaviour in cyberspace within the international community. A hotline will be set up to deal with cyber crime.

But Obama also laid out a fresh threat of sanctions against China for alleged cybercrimes, saying he will be wary until the Chinese follow through on the promised efforts to stop cyber espionage.