Australia agrees to work with China on cyber security

Australia and China will work together on enhanced cyber security, following an agreement between leaders of the two countries.

During talks on April 21st in Sydney, the two countries agreed that neither would conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets or confidential business information with the intent of obtaining competitive advantage. This is consistent with a similar agreement between China and the United States.

According to a statement from the Australian government, both countries also agreed to act in accordance with the reports of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on cyber, including the norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace identified by those reports.

Additionally, Australia and China agreed to establish a mechanism to discuss cyber security and cyber crime issues with a view to preventing cyber incidents that could create problems between them.

China’s president Xi Jinping believes that his country “should respect every country's choice of internet development path and management model, their internet public policy and the right to participate in managing international cyberspace.

“There should be no cyber-hegemony, no interfering in others' internal affairs, no engaging, supporting or inciting cyber activities that would harm the national security of other countries.”