Australia And China Establish Cybersecurity Agreement

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On April 21, 2017, Australia and China forged an agreement to expand their cybersecurity cooperation.  This agreement emerged as part of the Australia-China High-Level Security Dialogue held in Sydney. 

According to a joint statement from the two countries, the key cybersecurity components of the new bilateral agreement include:

  • A reaffirmation of the countries’ “commitment to a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative Information and Communications Technology environment,” and an agreement “to support the work of the UN Group of Governmental Experts and to act in accordance with its reports.” 
  • An agreement to “establish a mechanism to share information to assist in the fight against and prevention of cybercrime,” and “to discuss options for joint operations to combat cybercrime.”
  • A commitment to “exchange cybersecurity delegations, relevant legal and regulatory documents and learn about each other’s legal environment, law enforcement procedures and other relevant circumstances through meetings, communication on individual cases as well as other methods, so as to enhance cooperation and mutual trust.”
  • An agreement “not to conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets or confidential business information with the intent of obtaining competitive advantage.”

The agreement between Australia and China incorporates the information security work of the United Nations Group of Government Experts (GGE).  The recent GGE report from July 2015 built on its 2013 recommendations and called upon States to “cooperate to prevent harmful [Information and Communications Technologies (ICT)] practices and. . . [to] not knowingly allow their territory to be used for internationally wrongful acts using ICT,” among other recommendations.  A newly convened GGE will report to the UN General Assembly in 2017.

Regarding the information sharing mechanism, the two countries agreed to “discuss issues related to cybersecurity and fighting cybercrime and communicate relevant information and experience with the aim of preventing cyber incidents that could create problems between the two states.”   Australia and China aim to work together to combat “malicious cyber actors, internet distribution of child sex abuse material, e-mail scams and other transnational cybercrime activities,” intending to “identify through consultation key incidents and carry out joint law enforcement actions.”

According to the Government of Australia, the agreement that “neither country would conduct or support cyber-enabled theft” is “consistent with a similar agreement between the US and China.”  In September 2015, President Obama and President Xi Jinping reached an agreement on cybersecurity which included a similar provision that the United States and China agree that neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.

The Trump administration has indicated that cybersecurity remains a priority in relations with China.  During President Xi’s recent visit to the White House, the two governments agreed to establish the United States-China Comprehensive Dialogue, which will include a Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Dialogue pillar. 

Such cybersecurity cooperative agreements are gaining momentum worldwide.  China and Russia reached an agreement not to engage in cyber-attacks against one another in May 2015, and the United Kingdom entered into a similar agreement with China in October 2015.  The impact, however, of such agreements is debated.  For instance, while the United States continued to experience cyber-attacks reportedly attributable to China shortly after their agreement was reached, others reported a notable decline in cyber-attacks from China-based groups from 2014-2016, which may be due to a confluence of events that included the U.S.-China agreement.  Like the United States, Australia has faced several high profile cyber-attacks reportedly attributable to China, but the impact of the new China-Australia cybersecurity cooperation agreement remains to be seen.  Meanwhile, the next round of the China-Australia High-Level Security Dialogue will be held in China during the first six months of 2018.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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