First U.S.-China Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Dialogue

On October 4, 2017, Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions III and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke, together with Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun, co-chaired the first U.S.-China Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Dialogue (LECD).  The LECD is one of four dialogues agreed to by President Trump and President Xi during their first meeting in Mar-a-Lago in April 2017 and is an important forum for advancing bilateral law enforcement and cyber priorities between our two governments. 

The following topics were discussed: 

1) Repatriation. Both sides acknowledged the need to make continued progress in the area of repatriation of foreign nationals with final orders of removal. The United States and China committed to develop a repeatable process whereby the identities of individuals with final orders of removal are verified in a timely manner and travel documents are issued within 30 days of verification. This process should be finalized within three months following the LECD.

2) Counter-narcotics.  Both sides intend to continue to enhance cooperation on narcotics control and enforcement. Such cooperation may include: exchanging intelligence and operational information on trafficking of new psychoactive substances and other synthetic drugs, opioids, and cocaine; combatting the illicit production and trafficking of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances and precursor chemicals, with attention to applicable laws, scheduling actions, and use of express mail and consignment services; exchanging technical information on the relevant science and law; demand reduction cooperation; exchanging views on international narcotics control issues through UN-based and other multilateral forums; and sharing tracking information for packages between the two countries so as to identify individuals and criminal networks responsible for narcotics trafficking.  

3) Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. Both sides will continue their implementation of the consensus reached by the Chinese and American Presidents in 2015 on U.S.-China cybersecurity cooperation, consisting of the five following points: (1) that timely responses should be provided to requests for information and assistance concerning malicious cyber activities; (2) 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; (3) to make common effort to further identify and promote appropriate norms of state behavior in cyberspace within the international community; (4) to maintain a high-level joint dialogue mechanism on fighting cybercrime and related issues; and (5) to enhance law enforcement communication on cyber security incidents and to mutually provide timely responses.

Both sides reiterated that all consensus and cooperative documents achieved at the three rounds of the China-U.S. High-Level Joint Dialogue on Combating Cyber Crimes and Related Issues since 2015 remain valid.

Both sides intend to improve cooperation with each other on cybercrime, including sharing cybercrime-related leads and information, and responding to Mutual Legal Assistance requests, in a timely manner, including with regard to cyber fraud (including business email compromises), hacking crimes, abuse of internet for terrorist purposes, and internet dissemination of child pornography.

Both sides will continue to cooperate on network protection, including maintaining and enhancing cybersecurity information sharing, as well as considering future efforts on cybersecurity of critical infrastructure.

Both sides intend to maintain and make full use of the established hotline mechanism for addressing urgent cybercrime and network protection issues pertaining to significant cybersecurity incidents, and to communicate in a timely way at the leadership level or working level, as needed.

4) Fugitives. Both sides will continue to cooperate to prevent each country from becoming a safe haven for fugitives and will identify viable fugitive cases for cooperation. Both sides plan to continue regular meetings and working groups to identify priority cases. Both sides commit to take actions involving fugitives only on the basis of respect for each other’s sovereignty and laws, and any violation of the above mentioned principles will be addressed in accordance with law. 

While differences remain, both sides intend to make actual progress on all of the above matters, to make possible another Dialogue in 2018 to measure that progress.