Cybersecurity remains bone of contention for US, China

VIRTUALLY on the eve of President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States, both the Chinese and American governments took steps to ensure a smooth summit with President Barack Obama. Mr Xi sent a special envoy, Politburo member Meng Jianzhu, to Washington to defuse the issue of cybersecurity and the following week, the US for the first time sent one of China's most wanted fugitives back to the country.

Although the official Chinese media reported that Mr Meng and US officials reached "important consensus on combating cybercrimes", this contentious issue will doubtless still be high on the agenda when the two leaders meet on Thursday and Friday. Mr Obama himself warned just days ago that his administration was preparing a series of measures against China over online attacks, but such steps won't be taken before the meetings with Mr Xi.

Meanwhile, the repatriation of Yang Jinjun, one of China's 100 most-wanted fugitives abroad, saw a turnaround in Beijing's attitude, from badmouthing the United States for telling China not to send covert agents into the country in its attempt to repatriate suspects to praising Washington for its cooperation.