China looks forward to talks with US on cyber security

China says it's looking forward to "even-tempered talks" on cyber security when a Chinese delegation meets US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel over the weekend.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters yesterday that the talks in Singapore should work toward creating opportunities for cooperation on dealing with the threat.

Hagel said yesterday that cyber threats posed a "quiet, stealthy, insidious" danger to the United States and other nations, and called for "rules of the road" to guide behavior and avoid conflict on global computer networks.

Hagel said he would address cyber security in his speech to the Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore today and the issue was likely to come up in a brief meeting with the Chinese delegates on the margins of the conference.

"Cyber threats are real, they're terribly dangerous," Hagel told reporters. "They're probably as insidious and real a threat (as there is) to the United States, as well as China, by the way, and every nation."

Cyber conflict could lead to "quiet, stealthy, insidious, dangerous outcomes," from taking down power grids to destroying financial systems or neutralizing defense networks, Hagel said.

"That's not a unique threat to the United States, (it affects) everybody, so we've got to find ways here ... working with the Chinese, working with everybody, (to develop) rules of the road, some international understandings, some responsibility that governments have to take," he said.

Hagel's remarks came days after news reports said the Defense Science Board - a committee of civilian experts who advise the defense department - concluded Chinese hackers had gained access to the designs of more than two dozen major US weapons systems in recent years. The Pentagon downplayed the report as outdated and overstated.

China has consistently denied involvement in hacking and says it itself is a victim.

US President Barack Obama has made cyber security a priority of his administration and is to discuss his concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a meeting in California next week, according to a White House spokesman.

Hagel told reporters he had invited Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan to visit the US and a trip was being organized for August.

Hagel is due to spend two days at the Shangri-La dialogue, engaging in bilateral and trilateral meetings with his Asian counterparts.

After Singapore, Hagel will travel to a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels that will hold its first review of cyber defense, a sign the issue is climbing to the top of the alliance's agenda due to concerns its infrastructure and secrets are vulnerable.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said NATO systems face "regular" computer attacks.