US-China cybersecurity talks inching along

An impatient Washington grappled with the reality that it is unable to combat Chinese cyberhackers and digital spies as quickly as many in the United States would like.

The Obama Administration commenced new, direct talks with its Chinese counterparts on the matter this week — but even top White House officials acknowledged it will be a slow diplomatic process. And the pace of progress isn’t any faster in Congress, even though lawmakers and cybersecurity experts alike pined for a more aggressive legislative response to Chinese hacking. Top Obama Administration officials met with Chinese leaders for a special cybersecurity working group that preceded the official Strategic and Economic Dialogue. Senior administration sources told reporters that U.S. participants had “raised issues concerning cyberenabled economic theft,” much as President Barack Obama did last month when he met with new Chinese President Xi Jinping in California. But the message from the Administration: It’s just the beginning of a long series of talks, not an overnight process that might address the growing Chinese cybersecurity challenge.