Cyberattacks and North Korea top issues for talks between Obama and Xi
June 7, 2013 -- Updated 1414 GMT (2214 HKT)
Obama-Xi relationship: It's complicated
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Obama and Xi are meeting at an estate outside Los Angeles
- The setting is less formal than traditional summits between top leaders
- Observers say it is a chance to set the agenda for future U.S.-Chinese relations
- Cybersecurity and North Korea are seen as the key issues
"This is an attempt to
set out the ground rules for how our two countries will work together in
the 21st century," said Kurt Campbell, who recently served as U.S.
assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Officials in Beijing are
also trumpeting the potential importance of the event, the first time
the two leaders have met in person since Xi became China's paramount
leader.
The meeting is of "profound historic and strategic significance," Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Thursday.
The setting of the
meeting, in the Sunnylands estate outside Los Angeles, is unusually
informal and a far cry from the elaborately choreographed summits
typically held between Chinese and American leaders.
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What will Obama, Xi discuss?
"This is the first time
in 50 years that leaders will sit down, somewhat unscripted, to have a
real conversation about our relationship," Campbell said in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour. "It's long overdue and important."
Hacking allegations
The issues of cybersecurity and North Korea are expected to top the agenda.
The United States has recently become more vocal about
linking cyberattacks on American businesses and government agencies to
Chinese authorities. The attacks allegedly to involve attempts to steal
secret military and corporate technology and information.
Beijing has repeatedly
denied the accusations, saying that hacking is a global problem, of
which China is also a victim. But the chorus of voices arguing that the
Chinese stance is untenable is growing.
"In the past, rogue
behavior such as cybertheft may have provided a shortcut to greatness,"
the editorial board of the Washington Post wrote this week.
"But no longer. If China fails to evolve toward more responsible
behavior both abroad and at home, a backlash that is already forming in
the United States and among its neighbors will swell."
Some observers, however,
have noted that Obama will have to raise cybersecurity and spying
issues with Xi against the unflattering backdrop of recent reports alleging widespread surveillance of phone and Internet data by U.S. intelligence agencies.
North Korea
The two leaders may make progress on the North Korea question, according to Campbell.
"I think the Chinese
have just about had it with North Korea," he said. "They recognize that
the steps that they have taken -- nuclear provocations -- are creating
the context for more military activities on the part of the United
States and other countries that ultimately are not in China's best
strategic interests."
Tensions spiked on the
Korean Peninsula in March and April as the North unleashed a torrent of
dramatic threats against the United States and South Korea. The menacing
rhetoric came amid U.S-South Korean military drills and after the
United Nations had stepped up sanctions on Pyongyang in response to the
latest North Korean nuclear test in February.
The U.S. officials called on China, North Korea's key ally, to rein in the provocative behavior of Kim Jong Un's regime.
The situation in the
region has become calmer in recent weeks. The clearest sign of a
possible thaw in relations came Thursday when North and South Korea
agreed to hold talks about reopening their shared industrial complex
that Pyongyang shut down in April.
Previous meeting
Friday isn't the first
time Obama and Xi have met. The two leaders held talks in Washington
last year, while Xi still held the title of vice president.
During that visit, in addition to the more formal engagements, the Chinese leader visited a small town in Iowa, where he had stayed in the 1980s, when he was a provincial official.
He also took in a Lakers game in Los Angeles.
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