US President Barack Obama's national security advisor, Tom Donilon, called on China to take three steps in order to reduce the perceived cyberthreat that China represents to U.S. interests.

These included:

1. Recognition by China of the threat that cyberattacks pose to the countries international trade and its relationship with the U.S.

2. China should proactively move to stop cyberthreats throughout cyberspace.

3. Through diplomacy China should move to establish an understanding of acceptable practices in cyberspace between nations.

Tom Donilon, said in a speech to The Asia Society, that both countries shared common interests in these regards: "Economies as large as the United States and China have a tremendous shared stake in ensuring that the Internet remains open, interoperable, secure, reliable and stable".

The move comes as the U.S. steps up pressure on China’s suspected use of cyberattacks to gather technological information and sensitive data from western industries and government departments.

The move to clarify acceptable cyberspace practices, underlines the grey areas of international relations that cyberwarfare inhabits, despite having the ability to impact critical infrastructure, and the difficulty of proving attack origins.

Parties within the U.S. have pressured for an equal cyber policy response to such attacks. Donilon’s comments come as the U.S. seeks to force an ultimatum from China regarding its suspected offensive use of its cyber capabilities.

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