Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, 5/29/2013

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:18 P.M. EDT

Q    Jay, you said yesterday that when the President meets with the Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, that cybersecurity would be a top item on the agenda.  I’m just wondering, in the face of what we read about as bold hacking attacks on U.S. companies and other U.S. entities, does the President bring any firm sort of discussion to that issue, offering the possibility that sanctions might be imposed on companies that indulge in hacking and that sort of thing?  What kind of an agenda will he bring to that discussion?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, you’re correct that the President expects this to be a topic of conversation, one of many topics in his conversations with his Chinese counterpart.  This is a broad and complex relationship that we have, and there will be wide-ranging discussions on U.S.-China relations, on our economic and military cooperation, the efforts that we can undertake together to deal with global challenges as well as regional ones.

But also, certainly, a topic of conversation will be North Korea; stability in Asia; expanding our bilateral military ties; climate change; and cybersecurity.  And I think we have been clear in our concern about cybersecurity, our concern about the fact that there have been cyber intrusions emanating from China. 

As you know, the President’s National Security Advisor, Tom Donilon, is just returning from a trip to China where he met and had discussion with Chinese officials from all levels and -- from the highest levels and representing a variety of responsibilities within the Chinese government.  And he raised our growing concerns with many senior Chinese officials on this matter and made clear that the United States will do all it must to protect our national networks, our critical infrastructure, and our valuable public and private sector property.

And as Mr. Donilon noted earlier this year at the Asia Society, what we have been seeking from China is for it to investigate our concerns and to start a dialogue with us on cyber issues.  And we are pleased that China agreed last month to start a new working group along those lines, and through such a dialogue, we seek longer-term changes in China’s behavior, including by working together to establish norms against the theft of trade secrets and confidential business information.

But I want to reiterate -- and you’ve heard it from the President and from senior members of his national security team  -- that this is a very high priority, the issue of cybersecurity. You’ve seen it in the way he’s taken executive action.  You’ve seen it in the way that we press for action by Congress for this. And the President considers this a very top priority.

Q    To what extent do those intrusions, which include intrusions in U.S. military information, undermine cooperation in the other areas that you cited just now?

MR. CARNEY:  I think that we have an important and broad and complex relationship with China.  We are the two largest economies in the world, and we engage with the Chinese on an array of issues -- economic, political, cultural, military.  And this will be an important topic of what promises to be a broad conversation about a number of issues between the President and President Xi.