The White House on Tuesday declined to confirm reports that the United States would not impose economic sanctions on Chinese businesses and individuals for cyberwarfare before the visit of China President Xi Jinping next week.
“As I’ve indicated before, we’re not likely to talk about our plans to implement sanctions prior to our actions,” presidential press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday when asked about the reports.
Any talk about timing of sanction would giving potential targets of those sanctions time to prepare for them, Earnest said.
The Washington Post, citing an administration official, reported Monday that U.S. officials had made the decision to delay sanctions on China following an all-night meting in which U.S. and Chinese officials reached “substantial agreement” on several cybersecurity issues.
Men Jianzhu, a member of the political bureau of the Community Party Central Committee, traveled to Washington last week and met with Secretary of State John Kerry, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and national security adviser Susan Rice, the White House confirmed.
The idea of the U.S. leveling sanctions is still under consideration in the future, but it will not take place before Xi arrives on Sept. 24, the Post said. That decision would be consistent with past decisions to only take action after key meetings take place, since imposing sanctions first might lead China to cancel the visit.
The threat of sanctions held the potential of overshadowing Xi’s first state visit to the U.S.
President Obama planned to spend the visit touting last year’s climate change accord between China and the U.S., in which the U.S. agreed to reduce carbon emissions 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, and China committed to increasing the non-fossil fuels in its energy use to 20 percent by 2030.
But the two sides must also address thornier issues, including China’s efforts to control the South China Sea and its efforts to devalue its currency in the face of its recent stock-market drop and the threat of a recession.
Asked whether the Obama administration decided to avoid sanctions at this time in order to focus on the positive and tout the climate change agreement, Earnest said U.S. officials “have acknowledged that complication.”
But he also stressed other areas in which the U.S. and China have cooperated recently, such as with the Iran nuclear deal and efforts to “de-nuclearize” the Korean peninsula.
