U.S. and Chinese government officials held the first Senior Experts Group meeting to address norms of state behavior and other important international security in cyberspace issues in Washington, D.C., on May 11, the U.S. State Department said.
The Senior Experts Group on International Norms and Related Issues met for the first time as part of the commitment both countries made during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit in September 2015.
During that initial visit, both countries committed to refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property. The agreement also called on the U.S. and China to work toward identifying norms of state behavior in cyberspace and the creation of a group of senior experts to work on the matter.
The U.S. delegation in this most recent meeting was led by Christopher Painter, U.S. State Department Coordinator for Cyber Issues. Other U.S. delegates included representatives from the State Department, Defense Department, Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies.
Wang Qun, Director-General of the Department of Arms Control at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led the Chinese delegation. It also included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, and others.
Elizabeth Trudeau, director of the State Department Press Office, clarified this meeting is different from the Working Group on Cyber Issues that China stopped attending in 2014 after the Justice Department indicted five members of the Chinese military for hacking in the U.S.
“It’s my understanding different people, different scope, different process of meeting,” Trudeau said May 12 at a press briefing.
Trudeau highlighted the topics during the meeting included international law on state behavior in cyber space, voluntary international norms of state behavior, and cyber confidence-building measures.
Although she would not grade China on its commitments to the September 2015 agreement, “What I would say is that we continue to have this dialogue. This meeting on May 11th is a good indication that we stay engaged, we stay in discussions, we talk about these international norms.”
This senior experts group is expected to continue meeting twice a year.