China frees activist academic before Xi trip to United States

Their release, almost a year after they were detained, came before President Xi Jinping of China travels to the United States next week for his first state visit.

According to experts and former White House cyber security officials, the Obama administration will anger Beijing just days before the Chinese leader is scheduled to arrive in Washington.

Imposing sanctions before Xi’s high-profile visit, which will include a black tie state dinner at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama, would be a diplomatic disaster, said the person briefed on the White House’s thinking.

The visit will be an opportunity to “expand US-China cooperation” and “address areas of disagreement constructively”, said Earnest, in a nod to problems ranging from cyber attacks to Beijing’s controversial maritime claims.

Chinese hackers have been accused of stealing corporate secrets from USA businesses and for infiltrating the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which compromised sensitive information belonging to more than 22 million people. Amid an onslaught of cyberattacks traced again to Russian Federation, China, Iran and different American adversaries, the US army stays unable to formally join the assaults to the governments in query, limiting the capability to launch a authorized response.

Efforts by Obama’s administration aren’t enough to change the behavior of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which has stepped up its crackdown on lawyers, rights activists and peaceful critics of the regime since Xi took power in 2012, a letter signed by nine organizations said.

“We’ve made very clear to the Chinese that there are certain practices that they’re engaging in that we know are emanating from China and are not acceptable”, Obama said last Friday at Fort Meade.

To better understand the China-U.S. cybersecurity relationship, one has to understand both countries’ comprehensive strategies and the ever-changing post-Cold War world order.

Crucially, the sanctions chalked up were planned against foreign citizens and firms that are held responsible for breaching and launching cyber-attacks on USA industry and commercial enterprises.

The visit also comes at a time of concern about the global impact of an economic slowdown in China.