Calls to end tit for tat on cyber attacks

China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday cyber security is a global concern and China hopes to create a "peaceful, safe, open and cooperative" cyberspace with the help of other countries.

Hua made the comments in response to a speech by a top US official Monday who said cyber attacks are becoming a "growing challenge" to the economic relationship between the two countries.

Thomas Donilon, the National Security Advisor to US President Barack Obama, told the Asia Society in New York that an increasing number of American companies are speaking out about having confidential information and proprietary technologies stolen by cyber thieves originating from China.

"The international community cannot afford to tolerate such activity from any country," he said.

Guo Longlong, researcher at the American Studies office of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, said officials from the US and China should hold direct talks on the issue.

"It shouldn't be a war of words filled with antagonism but a fair dialogue," Guo said. "China and the US should work together to establish common rules that will benefit the world's Internet community."

He believes the United Nations should also be involved in the cyber security talks.

Donilon said the US expects the Chinese government to investigate and eliminate cyber theft, and called for bilateral talks to set acceptable rules of behavior on the Internet.

"The US and China, the world's two largest economies, both depend on the Internet, must lead the way in addressing this problem," he said.

Guo said it was unfair to claim that China is not active enough fighting against hacking, because the country needs a secure cyberspace even more than the US. "We don't have advanced technologies to protect ourselves from cyber theft," he said. "So we are actually more vulnerable."

A report published last month by a US cyber security firm claimed that a Shanghai-based unit of the Chinese army had been attacking companies and agencies in Western countries through the Internet for years. The accusations, which China's defense ministry called "unprofessional," have inflamed the conflict between the US and China over cyber attacks.

Guo said if China and the US do not step up to solve the problem, it might pose a risk to bilateral relations.

"Cyber security is one of the most important issues that could harm China-US relations," Gong said.

Wu Xinbo, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at the Fudan University, doesn't expect US-China relations will be severely harmed anytime soon. "The current concerns will turn into real challenges only when hacking has caused tremendous economic losses or political instability in one country," he said.