Chinese President pledges to work with US in battle against cybercrime

“There is no House of Cards”, Xi said, drawing laughter with a reference to the U.S. television drama about merciless political machinations that is also popular in China. He described thefts of online information as crimes, adding that “China’s government will not engage in cyberthefts or encourage such thefts by anyone”.

To highlight what Washington thinks about Beijing’s tough new national security laws, White House National Security Advisor Susan Rice on Tuesday hosted United States non-governmental groups likely to be hurt. China has denied responsibility.

By contrast, hacking attacks on the us, said to be directed by Beijing; China’s moves to assert its territorial claims in the South China Sea; and human rights issues have been sore spots.

The Chinese premier is in the U.S. for a week-long official visit to offer assurances on the topic, following allegations of cyber attacks on American businesses and government agencies.

Rhodes said the preference is to resolve the issue with talks, but the United States is “not averse to punitive measures, including sanctions”.

He also sought to reassure his audience that China’s recent military buildup and enhanced operations in Asia and beyond didn’t mean that his country was adopting an expansionist defense policy.

World markets experienced more than a month of volatility after China devalued its currency, fuelling concerns about the state of the world’s No 2 economy. We have to trust each other. The model features non-confrontation, mutual respect and willing cooperation between the two powers.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses some of the top names in Chinese and American business Wednesday in Seattle, they may be most interested in what he says about progress toward a treaty that would provide a framework for broader investment in each nation’s economy.

Pritzker, the Secretary of Commerce, spoke before Xi on Tuesday, offering a preview of the message Obama plans to deliver in person later this week.

“Today’s visit by President Xi represents a new chapter in the valuable relationship between Boeing and China”, Boeing President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said.

Because Washington state relies largely on hydropower and because natural gas is now cheap, some Washington-based clean-tech firms may sooner find markets and investment in China than they might domestically, he said. The act triggered stock market sell-offs worldwide.

“We know the value of worldwide trade and we know the value of exports to China and how many thousands of good-paying jobs it supports here in the state of Washington”, Gary Locke, a former Washington governor and ex-US ambassador to China, told AFP. Executives from Amazon, Pepsi, Microsoft, Disney and DuPont, among others, are expected to attend. Bill Gates was also there.

Chinese officials have tried to play down such concerns in the run-up to the visit, and to focus public attention instead on the benefits of economic relations between China and the U.S.

Toward the end of his talk, Xi noted how captivated he had been by a range of American authors, including Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway. Xi’s first state visit to the United States comes at a time of tense relations between the two superpowers.