One of the top Republican lawmakers has urged the U.S. President Barack Obama to be firm over the recent cyber security attacks issue with the Chinese President Xi Jinping in a meeting to be held this week.
According to the Fox News, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) on Sunday said that Obama needs to let Xi Jinping know that any cyber attacks from China "will not be tolerated" by the U.S. government.
"China's rampant theft of American intellectual property and the jobs that come with it is holding back our economy and impacting our competitiveness around the world," said Mike Rogers.
"China needs to see real consequences for their actions," added Rogers.
The U.S. president is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart at a summit, which will be held at a California estate on Friday and Saturday. The summit is aimed at establishing personal ties between the two leaders as the relationship between the two global powers has started turning sour in recent times.
The meeting of the two leaders was originally scheduled to be held a bit later, but given the fractions in relationship between the two countries in recent times, the meeting was scheduled a little earlier than the initial date.
This week's meeting will be followed by another meeting in July between U.S. and Chinese officials where the two countries will specifically discuss about cyber espionage along with other economic and strategic issues.
The U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last Saturday at an annual security conference in Singapore had accused the Chinese government of "cyber intrusions" and said that "Cyber conflict could lead to quiet, stealthy, insidious and dangerous outcomes."
The U.S. has accused the Chinese government of hacking and stealing confidential information including business and military from the U.S. government and business firms.
However, the Beijing government has constantly denied the all the accusations saying China itself is a victim of foreign cyber attacks.
China's bitter relationship with India over the border issue and sea dispute with Japan and the cyber security blame-game with the U.S. is forcing Beijing to seek better ties with the European Union.
