Australia has agreed a cyber security pact with Beijing under which both countries have pledged not to conduct or support the theft of intellectual property or trade secrets from each other.
The agreement follows a specific request made by Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his state visit to Australia last month, and reflects growing concern in the west about state-sponsored hacking and cyber crime.
“Australia and China agreed that neither country would conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets or confidential business information with the intent of obtaining competitive advantage,” the Australian government said in a statement on Monday.
