Obama says US, China must develop cyber rules

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, treading carefully, avoided a direct public confrontation on cyber security as they opened a two-day summit aimed at forging closer personal ties between the leaders of the world's largest economies.                     

Obama described the contentious cyber issue as "uncharted waters."                       

Obama said he and Xi discussed cyber matters only broadly during their first round of talks, but pledged that a fuller discussion was still to come. He said it was critical that the U.S. and China reach a "firm understanding" on cyber issues, but stopped short of accusing China of orchestrating the hacking of the American government and business computers.                                

"Because of the incredible advanced in technology, the issue of cyber security and need for rules and common approach for cyber security are going to be increasingly important," Obama said during an evening news conference with Xi on the grounds of a sprawling California desert estate.                 

Xi, who took power in China in March, claimed no responsibility for China's alleged actions. He said his nation was also a victim of cyber-spying, but did not assign any blame for the actions.                  

Hours earlier, with temperatures surging above 100 degrees, the two leaders walked together under a shaded walkway as they marked the start of their desert meetings. Underscoring the desire for an informal summit free of the formalities that mark official state visits, Obama and Xi greeted one another in white shirts and suit coats, but no ties.                       

U.S. officials cast the more relaxed California summit as an opportunity for Obama and Xi to hold more candid and free-flowing talks on the myriad of issues that define the relationship between the two countries, including the economy, climate change and North Korea's nuclear provocations.             

However, it's cyber security that has taken on increasing importance to the Obama administration in its recent talks with China. Obama said advances in technology have created a need for clear protocols about what is and isn't acceptable for governments to do.               

"They're going to have similar concerns," Obama said of the Chinese.        

Pushing back against the notion that the controversy over widespread government surveillance by the U.S. undercut his credibility to take on China over cyber security, Obama insisted the two issues were different. He said concerns over hacking and intellectual property theft shouldn't be confused with the separate debate over how governments collect data to combat terrorist threats.                        

 "That's a conversation that I welcome," he said.                 

China, too, has major concerns about cyber security, Xi said, calling new technology a "double-edged sword" that can drive progress but can also cause headaches for governments and their regulators. Although he said China has been victimized by cyber attacks, he did not specify who may have perpetrated him.                       

Speaking more broadly, Xi said he and Obama believe the two countries can approach each other in a way "that is different from the inevitable confrontation and conflict."                                     

Putting a positive spin on what has been a troublesome issue between the U.S. and China, Xi said cyber security is an area for the two nations to work together pragmatically. He said he was pleased that the U.S. and China have established a working group to discuss cyber security and called for the two nations to pay close attention to the issue as they work to resolve it going forward.                  

He invited the U.S. president to come to China for a similar meeting, pledging to continue talking by phone and exchanging letters with Obama.                   

Following their news conference, Obama and Xi attended a private working dinner on the grounds of the sprawling Sunnylands estate on the edge of the Mojave desert. They were scheduled to hold another round of talks Saturday morning.                                         

The two presidents were originally scheduled to hold their first meeting of the year in September, on the sidelines of an economic summit in Russia. But both countries agreed there was a need to hold talks earlier.                 


AP