Cyberwar deal seen as Xi promises warmer ties with US

SEATTLE—Seeking to warm bilateral ties and project a sunny climate for US business, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Wednesday to cut restrictions on foreign investment, while his chief Internet regulator appeared to lay the groundwork for a basic agreement later this week on cyberwarfare.

Xi’s busy stop on the West Coast is the first leg of a week-long trip to the United States and offers him a chance to highlight China’s cooperation with US companies before he heads to Washington, where he will contend with the full spectrum of irritants in relations, from tension in the South China Sea to human rights.

The Chinese leader started the day by publicly assuring US business leaders that he would make it easier to invest in China. He was later quizzed in a private session about intellectual property protection, common standards and clear, transparent regulations, according to the Paulson Institute, which hosted the event.

“We are working to create a new open economic system, push forward reform of foreign investment management and greatly reduce the restrictions on foreign investment,” Xi told executives in Seattle, including Apple Inc. chief executive Tim Cook and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett.

“GM and Ford can increase their investments in China,” Xi said.

A few hours after, Boeing Co. announced plans for an aircraft finishing center in China, its first outside the United States.

At Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, China’s top Internet regulator told US tech executives that both countries must work together on cybersecurity issues, including crime and espionage, addressing one of their most pressing concerns.

We are on the same boat,” said Lu Wei, at the eighth annual meeting of the US-China Internet Industry Forum. “The only choice we have is to cooperate.”

In a closed-door session afterward, Lu gave the impression that China and the United States were set to reach some kind of agreement on cyberwarfare, banning attacks on infrastructure in peacetime, according to one person present, who asked not to be named given the privacy of the meeting.

Samm Sacks, an analyst at US-based consulting firm Eurasia Group, said American business leaders were still concerned with cyber theft targeting corporate secrets, though any renewed cybercrime dialogue with Washington likely would be limited in scope and not deal with corporate espionage.

“Overall, I do not see any meaningful progress on cyber issues or a shift in Beijing’s approach toward US tech companies in China,” Sacks said.