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- The White House says President Obama will broach U.S. cyber security issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet in Washington, Reuters reports.
- The White House is considering applying sanctions against companies and individuals in China it believes benefited from the hacking of U.S. trade secrets.
- Chinese hackers were implicated in the hacking of the OPM office earlier this year.
Dive Insight:
Last week, U.S. officials met with the secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party to discuss cyber concerns.
"I think we've been pretty blunt in describing the concerns that we have with China's behavior in cyberspace,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “We have been blunt in our assessment that has significant consequences for our economy and for our national security."
Now, the White House says President Obama will bring the topic up with President Xi Jinping when he visits Washington later this month. Suspicions that Chinese hackers were behind several data breaches in the United States have strained relations between the U.S. and China, and the Obama administration is considering targeted sanctions against Chinese individuals and companies for cyberattacks.
"That strategy includes diplomatic engagement, trade policy tools, law enforcement mechanisms, and imposing sanctions on individuals or entities that engage in certain significant, malicious cyber-enabled activities," a senior administration official said.