Obama, Xi focus on cyber spying

“Confrontation and friction are not the right choice for both sides”, Xi said, speaking through a translator.

“We will apply those, and whatever other tools we have in our tool kit, to go after cybercriminals either retrospectively or prospectively”, he said.

As innovation in science and technology has become a robust impetus for China’s economic growth, tremendous business opportunities are emerging for Microsoft and other U.S. tech firms, Xi added, stating that China will stick to its reform and opening-up policy and continue to welcome foreign companies to do business in China.

The United States and China have joined forces to fight global warming, forge a historic agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear programs and respond to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

“We have, I think, made significant progress in agreeing to how our law enforcement and investigators are going to work together”, Obama said during a question-and-answer session after the address.

“I indicated that it has to stop”, Obama said.

“I raised, once again, our rising concerns about growing cyber threats to American companies and American citizens”, he said. Obama has declined to assign blame to China for that breach nor to sanction its government.

But Dan Kritenbrink, the National Security Council’s senior director for Asian affairs, called it “smart diplomacy” for the U.S.to reciprocate the hospitality that the Chinese have shown to the Obamas.

“At the same time, we must recognize that countries have different historical processes and realities, that we need to respect people of all countries in the rights to choose their own development path independently”.

Xi outlined their common vision for a global climate change agreement on Friday, and outlined new steps they will take to deliver on pledges made past year to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, the United States and China also reached an agreement to facilitate crisis communications between the USA and Chinese militaries meant to defuse tensions and to avoid escalations after any incidents between their armed forces.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she’d been to “many” state dinners, but added, “They’re always fabulous”.

A high-wattage collection of Hollywood studio chiefs and technology big-wigs convened at the White House Friday for a state dinner in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping, even as cybertheft of American trade secrets remains a major point of contention between Washington and Beijing. Obama has faced calls from some Republican presidential candidates to scale back the grandeur of Xi’s visit, which included an Oval Office meeting, a joint news conference in the Rose Garden and a glitzy black-tie dinner.

In conjunction with the state visit, Xi announced a blueprint for a nationwide cap-and-trade system beginning in 2017 that would cover highly polluting sectors ranging from power generation to papermaking.

USA officials have hoped for broader cooperation between Obama and Xi since the pair’s unusually informal 2013 summit at the Sunnylands estate in southern California. Officials have warned of retaliatory sanctions on businesses and individuals.

Xi Jinping’s comments, at a keynote speech in the commercial hub of Seattle, came as USA aerospace giant Boeing reportedly clinched a deal with Chinese firms to sell 300 aircraft.