By Graham Webster
The White House recently suggested that Washington and Beijing could lead the world in developing norms for cyberspace.
U.S. President Barack Obama told a group of business leaders Wednesday that he considers a “government or its proxies engaging directly in industrial espionage and stealing trade secrets, stealing proprietary information from companies” to be “an act of aggression that has to stop.” And he told executives the government can best assist businesses if they can go to Chinese counterparts with evidence.
In an answer that covered several cybersecurity issues, Obama also called for the United States and China to cooperatively build a “framework that is analogous to what we’ve done with nuclear power.” Obama went as far as to suggest that the two countries could lead the world in developing norms for cyberspace. “If we and the Chinese are able to coalesce around a process for negotiations, then I think we can bring a lot of other countries along.”
Obama’s dual message underlines a problem with the term “cybersecurity.” It encompasses numerous diverse issues, some of which are areas of confrontation and “aggression,” and some of which might be areas for strategic cooperation and dialogue.
Read the full story at The Diplomat