U.S., China reach accord to curb cybertheft

WASHINGTON — The United States and China have agreed that neither country will conduct economic espionage in cyberspace in a deal that addresses a major source of tension in the bilateral relationship.

The agreement, reached in talks Thursday and Friday between President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, is a major breakthrough that has the potential to alleviate one of the most significant threats to U.S. economic and national security.

The United States has accused China of stealing billions of dollars’ worth of intellectual property and trade secrets from U.S. companies and was ready to impose economic sanctions on Chinese firms that benefited from cyber-enabled theft.

The two sides also said they would set up a high-level joint dialogue on cybercrime in which senior officials from both countries would be able to review allegations of cyber-intrusions.

The agreement does not address traditional espionage, such as China’s alleged theft of personal information of more than 22 million current and former federal employees through a hack of Office of Personnel Management computers.