China: Cyberattacks Are Like Nuclear Bombs Wall Street Journal By ANDREW BROWNE

China: Cyberattacks Are Like Nuclear Bombs

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By ANDREW BROWNE

BEIJING—Cyberattacks could be "as serious as a nuclear bomb," according to a top Chinese general, who rejected suggestions that the Chinese military is behind cyberspying aimed at Western companies.

Read More

• U.S. Eyes Pushback on China Hacking4/21/13
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• China Alleges Cyberattacks Originated in U.S. 2/28/13
• U.S., China Ties Tested in Cyberspace2/19/13

General Fang Fenghui, chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army, made the comments after meeting with his U.S. counterpart Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Cybersecurity was one of a number of sensitive issues covered. The Obama administration is considering options to confront Beijing over the issue, including trade sanctions, diplomatic pressure and indictments of Chinese nationals in U.S. courts.

Asked at a news conference on Monday about allegations the PLA sponsors hacking attacks on Western companies to steal commercial secrets, Gen. Fang repeated China itself is a victim of cyberattacks.

"None of these activities is tolerated here in China," he said. If Internet security can't be guaranteed, "the damaging consequences may be as serious as a nuclear bomb," He also suggested it was hard to trace the source of attacks, saying "the Internet is open to anyone, and anyone can launch attacks from the place where they live, from their own country or from another country." Gen. Fang said, adding: "We should jointly work on this."

The general repeated the consistent Chinese line that North Korea's nuclear threat is best dealt with through negotiation, even though he said it was possible Pyongyang could conduct a fourth nuclear test despite U.N. sanctions that China itself helped to draft following the latest test by China's close ally.

He urged restraint from all sides, comments suggesting Beijing thinks Washington as much as Pyongyang should take responsibility for calming tensions in North Asia.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to China earlier this month, made little headway in trying to persuade Beijing to publicly rebuke North Korea after it threatened to attack U.S. and allied targets in North Asia and the Pacific.

The first face-to-face meeting between the two chiefs of staff was part of an effort to rebuild military-to-military ties between the U.S. and China that are strained by U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Military relations have lagged behind other aspects of the engagement between the U.S. and China, whose economies are deeply entwined. That has contributed to a sense of strategic distrust between the two powers, as China becomes more assertive in Asia and as the U.S. refocuses its attention on the world's most economically dynamic region.

But Gen. Fang struck a conciliatory tone. "The Pacific Ocean is wide enough to accommodate us both," he said, though adding that each country should respect the other's "core interests." China's expansive interests in the region include a claim to sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, which brings it into conflict with many of its smaller neighbors.

Gen. Fang said it is important for the two countries "to avoid vicious competition, friction, or even confrontation in this area."

Gen. Dempsey said the U.S. was looking for "healthy, stable and reliable" military-to-military relations with China. The U.S. is a Pacific power," he said, adding that Washington seeks to be a stabilizing presence in the region and that "the absence of a U.S. presence would be destabilizing."

China believes that the so-called U.S. "pivot" to Asia is aimed at containing its rise in the world. It already feels hemmed in by a string of U.S. military alliances in the region stretching from Japan all the way to Australia.