The Australian and Chinese governments agreed to enhance cyber security cooperation following discussions between leaders of the countries on April 21, the Australian Prime Minister’s office said Monday.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull first raised cyber-enabled intellectual property theft issues with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang when the latter visited Sydney in March. The new agreement came after Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop met with Meng Jianzhu, Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, on April 21.
The two countries agreed they would not conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets, or confidential business information with the intent of obtaining competitive advantage. The agreement is similar to a series of agreements the U.S. made with several countries in the past few years, particularly with China a year and a half ago (Defense Daily, Sept. 15, 2015).
Australia and China also agreed to act in accordance with reports from the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on cyber, including norms of responsible state behavior in cyberspace.
The countries agreed to establish a bilateral mechanism to discuss cyber security and crime issues with the aim of preventing cyber incidents that could create problems between them.
Meng Jianzhu was in the country for the first meeting of the High-Level Security Dialogue held on April 21 in Sydney. The continuing dialogue was earlier agreed upon by Turnbull and Li.