China and Canada signed an agreement pledging not to carry out cyber attacks sponsored by the two countries against one another in order to steal state secrets or other confidential business information.
The agreement was reached during talks between National Security Adviser and Canadian intelligence Daniel Jean and senior Communist Party official Wang Yongqing, according to a statement released on June 22 on the Canadian government website.
"This was something he had never received three or four years ago," said an unnamed Canadian government official for Globe & Mail, who cited the first report on the deal.
The new deal covers only economic espionage, which involves breaking corporate secrets and proprietary technology, but does not deal with state-sponsored e-espionage to collect intelligence.
The Canadian government added:
The two sides agreed that the government of both countries would not support or support the theft of intellectual property over the Internet, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, in order to provide competitive advantages to companies or business sectors.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the request for comment. Some countries, including the United States, have long accused Beijing of sponsoring piracy attacks on companies in an attempt to acquire sensitive foreign technology. China denies the charges and says it is also a victim of piracy.
In 2015, China and the United States came to a similar understanding on corporate espionage information, after the Obama administration imposed targeted sanctions against individuals and Chinese companies for cyber attacks against US business targets.
Security officials in the information security services and government advisors said the violations attributed to the Chinese-based groups had fallen short of the agreement.
China this month put in place a new law on information security aimed at strengthening vital infrastructure, even as many international technology companies and lounges said the rules have spoiled the field for foreign companies.
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