China agrees to stop conducting state-sponsored cyberattacks targeting Canadian private sector
This industrial espionage accord was worked out this past Friday during high-level talks in Ottawa between senior Communist Party official Wang Yongqing and Daniel Jean, the national security and intelligence adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"The two sides agreed that neither country's government would 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," an official communiqué drawn up between China and Canada
The bilateral pact was concluded four days after Mr. Trudeau held a telephone discussion with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, where the two leaders focused on a coming third round of exploratory free-trade talks.
This new deal only covers economic espionage – hacking corporate secrets – and does not preclude China from conducting state-sponsored cyberattacks against the Canadian government or military as it did in 2014, when Chinese hackers broke into the main computers at the country's National Research Council.
A senior government official, who took part in Friday's talks, said the agreement should nevertheless be seen as a potentially important step toward addressing the broader problem of Chinese espionage.
"This is something that three or four years ago [Beijing] would not even have entertained in the conversation," according to the official, who is not authorized to speak on the record for the government.
"For us, having the commitment on paper is good because we can refer to it. The fact that we do this doesn't mean we won't be vigilant, but at the same time if things happen we can go back [to this commitment]."
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This industrial espionage accord was worked out this past Friday during high-level talks in Ottawa between senior Communist Party official Wang Yongqing and Daniel Jean, the national security and intelligence adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"The two sides agreed that neither country's government would 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," an official communiqué drawn up between China and Canada
The bilateral pact was concluded four days after Mr. Trudeau held a telephone discussion with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, where the two leaders focused on a coming third round of exploratory free-trade talks.
This new deal only covers economic espionage – hacking corporate secrets – and does not preclude China from conducting state-sponsored cyberattacks against the Canadian government or military as it did in 2014, when Chinese hackers broke into the main computers at the country's National Research Council.
A senior government official, who took part in Friday's talks, said the agreement should nevertheless be seen as a potentially important step toward addressing the broader problem of Chinese espionage.
"This is something that three or four years ago [Beijing] would not even have entertained in the conversation," according to the official, who is not authorized to speak on the record for the government.
"For us, having the commitment on paper is good because we can refer to it. The fact that we do this doesn't mean we won't be vigilant, but at the same time if things happen we can go back [to this commitment]."
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