At the White House on Friday, reporters bring up cyber security, a rising China's role in the world and how Beijing's shoring up of markets might affect global economy
Editor's note: This is the full text of a joint press conference with US President Barack Obama and China President Xi Jinping held in the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday.
Obama:
Okay, we're going to take a few questions. We're going to start with Margaret Talev of Bloomberg.
Thank you, Mr. President. President Obama and President Xi, I'd like to talk to you about cyber. If I am an American business and I'm being hacked by Chinese pirates who are trying to steal my intellectual property, what firm assurances can you give us today that things are going to get better, and when?
President Obama, are you satisfied enough about the steps that China is taking to hold off on imposing any new sanctions to this end? Or what do you still need to see?
And, President Xi, could we expect prosecutions of Chinese people and organizations who have hacked American businesses? And if the US did sanction anyone in China, would you respond with sanctions?
Obama:
I'll take them in order. With respect to cyber, this has been a serious discussion between myself and President Xi since we first met in Sunnylands. And the good news, from my perspective, is, is that in the lead-up to and then finalized during our meetings here today, we have, I think, made significant progress in agreeing to how our law enforcement and investigators are going to work together, how we're going to exchange information, how we are going to go after individuals or entities who are engaging in cyber-crimes or cyber-attacks. And we have jointly affirmed the principle that governments don't engage in cyber-espionage for commercial gain against companies. That all I consider to be progress.
What I've said to President Xi and what I say to the American people is the question now is, are words followed by actions. And we will be watching carefully to make an assessment as to whether progress has been made in this area.
With respect to the various tools that we have to go after those who are attacking our companies or trying to extract trade secrets or data, we have traditional law enforcement tools, but - as I indicated a while back - through executive action, I've also instituted the ability to impose sanctions on individuals or entities where we have proof that they've gone after US companies or US persons.
And we did not, at our level, have specific discussions of specific cases. But I did indicate to President Xi that we will apply those and whatever other tools we have in our toolkit to go after cyber criminals, either retrospectively or prospectively. Those are tools generally that are not directed at governments; they are directed at entities or individuals that we can identify. And they're not unique to China. Those are tools that we're going to be using for cyber criminals around the world.
And President Xi, during these discussions, indicated to me that, with 1.3 billion people, he can't guarantee the behavior of every single person on Chinese soil - which I completely understand. I can't guarantee the actions of every single American. What I can guarantee, though, and what I'm hoping President Xi will show me, is that we are not sponsoring these activities, and that when it comes to our attention that non-governmental entities or individuals are engaging in this stuff, that we take it seriously and we're cooperating to enforce the law.
The last point I'll make on the cyber issue - because this is a global problem, and because, unlike some of the other areas of international cooperation, the rules in this area are not well developed, I think it's going to be very important for the United States and China, working with other nations and the United Nations and other - and the private sector, to start developing an architecture to govern behavior in cyberspace that is enforceable and clear.
It doesn't mean that we're going it prevent every cyber-crime, but it does start to serve as a template whereby countries know what the rules are, they're held accountable, and we're able to jointly go after non-state actors in this area.
Xi:
(As interpreted.) Madam reporter has raised the cybersecurity issue. Indeed, at current, for the international community and for China and the United States, this is an issue all attach great importance to. With President Obama and I have on many occasions - and this is a long history - have exchange of views on this. I think it's fair to say we've reached a lot of consensus on cybersecurity, including some new consensus.
Overall, the United States is the strongest country in terms of cyber strength. China is the world's biggest cyber country in terms of the number of Web users. We have more than 600 million of netizens. Our two sides should cooperate because cooperation will benefit both, and confrontation will lead to losses on both sides. We are entirely able to carry out government department and expert levels of dialogue and exchanges to strengthen our cooperation in many respects and turn the cybersecurity between the two countries into a new growth source, rather than a point of confrontation between the two sides.
China strongly opposes and combats the theft of commercial secrets and other kinds of hacking attacks. The US side, if has concerns in this respect, we can, through the exiting channels, express those concerns. The Chinese side will take seriously the US provision of any information. Now, we have already, and in the future, we will still, through the law enforcement authorities, maintain communication and coordination on this matter, and appropriately address them.
So, all in all, we have broad, common interest in the field of the cyber. But we need to strengthen cooperation and avoid leading to confrontation. And nor should we politicize this issue. During my current visit, I think it's fair to say that the two sides, concerning combatting cyber-crimes, have reached a lot of consensus. Going forward, we need to, at an early date, reach further agreement on them and further put them on the ground.
Thank you.
Now I would like to propose for China's Central Television reporter to raise a question.
Thank you, Mr. President Xi. I have a question for President Obama. I have noticed that last night, during a meeting with President Xi Jinping, as well as at the welcoming ceremony this morning and the just-recently-made remarks, you've indicated that the US welcomes the rise of a peaceful, stable and prosperous China, and supports China to play a bigger role on the international stage. Would you please elaborate? That for your office so far, what have you done to enable reaching this target? And we are more interested for the remainder of the office, what will you do still further to reach that goal? Thank you.
Obama:
Well, first of all, I think that the United States has provided a platform in the post-World War II era in which the Asia region has been able to stabilize, and the conditions in which China was able to grow so rapidly were maintained. And we're very proud of the work that we did after World War II to help rebuild both Asia and Europe; to help establish the international norms and rules that facilitated growing global trade and connections and travel and interactions; and to help maintain the peace.
Since I've been president, my goal has been to consistently engage with China in a way that is constructive, to manage our differences and to maximize opportunities for cooperation. And I've repeatedly said that I believe it is in the interests of the United States to see China grow, to pull people out of poverty, to expand its markets, because a successful and stable and peaceful China can then serve as an effective partner with us on a range of international challenges.
Last night, during our discussions, I mentioned to President Xi that as powerful as the United States is, the nature of the biggest challenges we face - things like climate change, or terrorism, or pandemic, or refugees - those are not issues that any one nation alone can solve. And we recognize, because of our strength and the size of our economy and the excellence of our military, that we can play a special role and carry a larger burden, but we can't do it alone. China, despite its size, still has development challenges of its own, so it can't solve these problems alone. We've got to work together. We've got to cooperate.
And I think that can happen as long as we continue to recognize that there's a difference between friendly competition - which we have with some of our closest friends and allies like Great Britain or Germany - and competition that tilts the playing field unfairly in one direction or another. That's typically where tensions between our countries arise, is our desire to uphold international norms and rules - even as we recognize that we need to update some of these international institutions to reflect China's growth and strength and power.
So President Xi mentioned IMF reform, quota reform. That's an area where we fully support and want to implement a greater voice and vote for China in that institution, reflective of its strength. The same will be true when we go up to the United Nations on peacekeeping initiatives. China is able to project its capabilities in a way that can be extremely helpful in reducing conflict.
And in all of those issues, as well as education, science, technology, we think that the opportunities for cooperation are there as long as there's reciprocity, transparency, and fairness in the relationship.
And what I have said in the past to President Xi is, is that given China's size, we recognize there's still a lot of development to be done and a lot of poverty inside of China, but we can't treat China as if it's still a very poor, developing country, as it might have been 50 years ago. It is now a powerhouse. And that means it's got responsibilities and expectations in terms of helping to uphold international rules that might not have existed before.
And that is something China should welcome. That's part of the deal of being on the world stage when you're a big country, is you've got more to do. My gray hair testifies to that. (Laughter.)
Julie Davis.
And for President Xi, you've experienced an economic downturn in your country with the stock market crisis. And investors, globally, have been concerned about some of the actions you've taken to intervene in the stock market and with the currency exchange rate. I wonder if you could stay what you told President Obama, or what you can say today, to restore confidence that these interventions will not have spillover effects into the global economy in the future. Thank you.
Xi:
(As interpreted.) Thank you, madam reporter, for your interest in China's economy. China is now committed to improving the marketized renminbi exchange rate formation regime. Since 2005, we adopted the exchange rate reform. By June this year, the renminbi has risen in value by more than 35 percent with the US dollar. Last month - in fact, we are continuing to make reforms to the renminbi exchange rate central parity quotation regime. That increased the intensity for the markets to determine the exchange rate of renminbi.
Due to the influence of factors, such as the previous strengthening of the US dollar and somewhat turbulence on the financial market, the renminbi exchange rate after reform has experienced a certain degree of fluctuation. However, there is no basis for the renminbi to have a devaluation in the long run. At present, the exchange rate between renminbi and US dollars is moving toward stability. Going forward, China will further improve the marketization and formation regime of renminbi exchange rate, maintain the normal fluctuation of the exchange rate, and maintain the basic stability of renminbi at an adaptive and equilibrium level.
At present, China is also under increasing pressure of economic downturn and some fluctuations on the stock market. Challenges and difficulties have obviously increased. But what we are taking is proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy. And we describe them as measures to stabilize growth, promote reform, restructuring, promote people's livelihood, and fend off risks.
By comprehensively taking measures, we managed to maintain a 7 percent of growth rate in the first half of this year. Last year, we achieved a 7.3 percent of growth rate. And compared with the aggregate economic strength, the increase - the absolute increase of the economy is equivalent to the size of a middle-sized economy.
So for the first half of this year, our growth order is 7 percent, and for the whole year, I think it is expected at the same level. The Chinese economy maintaining a mid-to-high growth of rate. This is a fundamental that has not changed, because we are equipped with several conditions.
First of all, our people's income are still at a middle income period. When countries are developing, this is a period where there will be further development. At present, our per capita GDP only stands at $700-$800 US dollars, and that is very much behind the United States. There is big room for ascendency and for increase. And we are now doing what we call as the full reforms or the full processes, which is in formatization - a new type of industrialization, urbanization, and the agricultural modernization.
Take the urbanization as an example. Every year, it will increase by 2 percent. Now our urbanization ratio is 53 percent, and it is expected to grow by 2 percent. And that is equivalent to something like 10 million people moving from rural areas to the urban areas. At the same time, we're also should not let the rural areas be backward. We need to develop the rural areas. Through the Internet Plus and other policies our industrialization and our urbanization will have a frog-leap development.
Now, the Chinese economy - turning to a slower growth rate and turning it from a speed-based growth to quality-based growth, and we are moving from an export-driven and investment-driven economy into an economy driven by expanded consumption and domestic demand. We call this as a new normal of the Chinese economy. And I'm confident that going forward, China will surely, for all of us, for everybody, provide a healthy growth that strengthens confidence.
Thank you. And now I would like to remind reporter from the People's Daily of China to raise questions.
Thank you, President Xi. I have a question - to seek guidance. Now, some people in America believe that China's growth might challenge the US leading position in the world. My question for President Xi is, what is your view on the current United States and what is China's US policy? Thank you.
Xi:
(As interpreted.) Thank you. In my view, the US in economic, in military, has remarkable strength. And other countries in the world are also developing. Still, the US has un-compared advantages and strengths.
The Cold War has long ended. Today's world has entered into an era of economic globalization where countries are interdependent upon each other. People should move ahead with the times, and give up on the old concepts of "you lose, I win" or "zero-sum game," and establish a new concept of peaceful development and willing cooperation.
If China develops well, it will benefit the whole world and benefit the United States. If the US develops well, it will also benefit the world and China.
China's policy towards the US is consistent and transparent. As the world's biggest developing country and biggest developed countries, and as the world's two biggest economies, our two sides have broad and common interests on world peace and human progress, and shoulder important and common responsibilities, although our two sides also have certain differences. But the common interests of the two countries far outweigh those differences.
It is also my sincere hope that the two sides of China and the US will proceed from the fundamental interests of the two peoples and world people, make joint efforts to build a new model of major-country relations between two countries, and realize non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and cooperation.
That should serve as a direction where both sides should strive unswervingly. China is the current international system's builder, contributor, and developer, and participant, and also beneficiary. We are willing to work with all other countries to firmly defend the fruits of victory of the Second World War, and the existing international system, centered on the - and at the same time, promote them to developing a more just and equitable direction.
China has raised the Belt-Road Initiative and proposed to establish the AIIB. And all of their aims are to expand mutual and beneficial cooperation with other countries and realize common development. These initiatives are open, transparent, inclusive. They are consistent in serving the interests of the US and other countries' interest. And we will come - the US and other parties - to actively participate in them.
Thank you.
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