Dive Brief:
- U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice met with Chinese State Councilor Guo Shengkun last week during the third round of meetings on cybersecurity between China and the United States.
- Rice and Shengkun reportedly discussed the importance of the anti-hacking accord signed last year between the China and the United States as well as U.S. concerns over a new Chinese cybersecurity rule that mandates technology suppliers divulge their source code, Reuters reports.
- Last September, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that neither government would knowingly support cybertheft of corporate secrets to support domestic businesses. But since then, China has been accused of additional cyber break-ins in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
Earlier this month, Microsoft, Intel, IBM and several U.S. tech companies protested a new Chinese cybersecurity rule that mandates technology suppliers divulge their source code. During their meeting last Wednesday, Rice reportedly told Shengkun the U.S. is concerned about the "potential impacts" of the proposed new law.
China says giving up source code is the only way to prove hackers cannot compromise a companies' products and confirmation that the products do not contain backdoors. But Intel said the rule "would hurt technological innovation and decrease the security level of products," according to The Wall Street Journal, which obtained copies of a discussion forum about the proposed rules.
As part of the cyber guidelines signed by both countries last year, China and the U.S. agreed to regular meetings on cybersecurity issues and concerns.