Bam: Hack no, China
Sanction threat in talk with President Xi
Standing in the White House Rose Garden alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Obama on Friday renewed his threat that statesponsored cyberattacks on the United States would be met with sanctions.
Facetoface talks have yielded an agreement that neither side would support cyberespionage, Obama said, adding, “The question now is: Are words followed by action?”
But for all his strong words, Obama stayed silent on China’s alleged hacking of files on 22 million American personnel.
Obama conceded he had not confronted Xi on any specific cyberattack.
“We did not at our level have specific discussions of specific cases,” he said.
The United States has accused Beijing of masterminding the massive hack of the US Office of Personnel Management and the thefts of trade secrets and intellectual property worth billions of dollars.
Xi agreed the two countries “have broad common interests, but we need to strengthen cooperation and avoid confrontation.”
The Chinese leader deflected criticism of his country’s economic slowdown, blaming global market fluctuations and a strong US dollar while insisting China would enjoy “healthy” growth.
Xi also defended China’s widely condemned construction of a island in the South China Sea, stressing, “China does not intend to pursue militarization” there.
The two leaders and their wives attended a state dinner Friday night, sharing the head table with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Dream Works Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein.
Entertainment was provided by R&B star NeYo.