14 DAY TRIAL // Over the past period, the White House has held numerous speeches on cybersecurity in which it has highlighted the impact of cyber threats on the country’s economic and national security. However, it has never directly named China as being responsible.
That was until Monday, when President Obama’s National Security Advisor, Thomas E. Donilon, urged China to stop the theft of trade secrets and try to participate in the establishing of norms of behavior for cyberspace.
“Increasingly, U.S. businesses are speaking out about their serious concerns about sophisticated, targeted theft of confidential business information and proprietary technologies through cyber-intrusions on an unprecedented scale,” Donilon said, cited by The Washington Post.
The advisor said that Beijing must become aware of the impact of such activities on its reputation and on bilateral relations.
“From the president on down, this has become a key point of concern and discussion with China. And it will continue to be,” he said.
A couple of days ago, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi urged the West to instate rules and cooperation.
“The international community is closely connected through the Internet, therefore cyberspace needs rules and cooperation, not war,” Yang said.
This means that China and US agree on the necessity to establish some cyberspace rules. However, the US is basically asking Beijing to take care of the problem on its own end.
Some experts say that Donilon’s speech might act as a wake-up call for China. On the other hand, William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, told The Washington Post that China would most likely continue to deny any implication.
In addition, they will probably try to do a better job to cover their tracks.
A report recently published by China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team has revealed that many of the cyberattacks launched against the country’s computer systems originate from the United States.