United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese President Xi Jinping this week reached a series of strategic agreements, including a prohibition on both countries’ governments not supporting the cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property.
A joint statement released on Oct. 22 said, “The U.K. and China agree not to conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets or confidential business information with the intent of providing competitive advantage.”
This agreement mirrors a similar agreement between President Barack Obama and President Xi last month (Defense Daily, Sept. 25). The joint statement language itself is nearly identical, with the U.S.-China agreement noting “neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.”
Cameron highlighted the agreement in a joint press conference with President Xi on Wednesday.
“It’s testament to our strong relationship that we’re able to work on these important issues. And also that we’re able to have open discussions on more difficult issues, such as cyber, where we’ve reached a new agreement on cyber-enabled commercial espionage, and on human rights,” Cameron said
The joint statement also agreed to increase the frequency of high-level exchanges to guide bilateral relations; increase multilateral cooperation to help resolve terrorist and extremist conflicts through diplomatic and political means; and establish a high-level security dialogue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation on security issues including non-proliferation, organized crime, cyber crime, and illegal immigration.