China, US talks on cyber security go well

China and the United States have begun the annual dialogue on cyber security, with Chinese media saying the talks go well despite recent revelations by former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Cyber security is one of the main issues for the four-day talks in Washington, began on Monday, as both countries accuse each other of hacking attacks.

Snowden’s recent revelations of US electronic surveillance across the world gave Beijing an argument to counter America’s claims that China steals private intellectual property (IP) from American research centers and companies.

However, China’s Xinhua news agency said that the talks between the world’s two largest economies have made progress on Monday and Tuesday.

“The two sides held candid in-depth discussions on cyber security, including the mechanism of a bilateral cyber working group, international cyberspace rules, and measures to boost dialogue and cooperation on cyber security,” the news agency said.

The two countries agreed to improve cooperation to “play a positive role in enhancing mutual trust, reducing mutual suspicion, managing disputes and expanding cooperation,” it also said.

“The two sides agreed to hold an informal meeting at an appropriate time before the next strategic security dialogue,” it added.

On June 6, the UK’s Guardian newspaper revealed that a top secret US court order allows the US National Security Agency (NSA) to collect data on the millions of Americans who are customers of major US phone company Verizon.

On the same day, the Washington Post also reported that the NSA had direct access to internet servers, saying their source, a career intelligence officer, was horrified of the capabilities of the systems used by the top US spy agency.

On June 9, Snowden, a former NSA contractor, admitted his role in the leaks in a 12-minute video published by the British daily.

The NSA scandal found even broader dimensions when Snowden revealed more information about the American agency’s espionage against other countries.