China and US talks on cyber security 'make progress'

Both sides agreed to work together in a cyber working group to enhance mutual trust, Xinhua news agency claims

Talks between the world's two biggest economies on cyber security have gone well, according to Chinese state media.

In May, the Pentagon accused China of hacking US government computer systems, and last month a top Chinese official claimed that the country had ‘mountains of data' showing evidence of hacking originating from the US - without directly accusing the US government of computer hacking.

The war of words intensified after former National Security Agency (NSA) and CIA contractor Edward Snowden, who worked for the private contractor Booz Allen, leaked documents detailing how the Prism data-gathering programme collected email and internet usage.

Most recently, Colonel Yang Yujin of China's Ministry of National Defence, slammed the US for its apparent double standards over cyber surveillance.

However, China's official Xinhua news agency said that talks had made progress, Reuters reports.

"The two sides held candid in-depth discussions on cyber security, including the mechanism of a bilateral cyber working group, international cyberspace rules, and measures to boost dialogue and cooperation on cyber security," Xinhua said.

It said that both sides had agreed to improve communication so that the group's operations could "play a positive role in enhancing mutual trust, reducing mutual suspicion, managing disputes and expanding cooperation".

China and the US will hold an informal meeting before the next strategic security dialogue, Xinhua added.

The talks come a month after President Barack Obama and new Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in California where Obama told Xi that he believed that Beijing needs to be held accountable for any hacking that originates from Chinese soil.

The China Daily reported that in the first five months of this year, about one third of hacking attacks on Chinese PCs appeared to originate from the US.

China's denied all hacking allegations but its position on resolving matters with the US may have altered after Snowden's revelations. These included details on how the US monitored Chinese websites and installations, and allegations that the NSA hacked into critical network infrastructure at universities in China and Hong Kong.