US Demands China Block Cyberattacks

A speech by the US national security adviser has emerged as the first public demand that China end the theft of data from US computer networks. China repeated its own denunciations of such attacks and denied that its military is involved in wholesale cybertheft from US corporations and government agencies, report Mark Landler and David Sanger for the New York Times. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged “constructive dialogue” on cybersecurity, and one anonymous US official suggested that leaders should realize that the Chinese army may be acting on its own, disrupting official Chinese policy. Previously, the Obama administration avoided public confrontation over cybersecurity, report Landler and Sanger, instead relying on private talks with Chinese officials. “The Chinese have insisted that they are the victims of cyberattacks, not the perpetrators,” Landler and Sanger report, and China’s foreign minister has called for new rules, too. The article notes that the US continues to develop a range of cyberweapons. – YaleGlobal