Trump says he and Xi discussed cyberattacks and spying between US, China

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed cyberattacks and espionage activities carried out by both nations during their bilateral meeting this week.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One during his return flight to the United States, Trump, when asked if he raised the topics in their discussions, said, “I did. And he talked about attacks that we did in China. Y’know, what they do, we do too.”

“They’re talking about the spying. Well, we do it too,” he said. “We spy like hell on them too.”

“I told him, ‘we do a lot of stuff to you that you don’t know about and you’re doing things to us that we probably do know about,’” Trump added.

The president didn’t describe specific cyber campaigns that were discussed. China has made waves in recent years for its sweeping intrusions into telecommunications systems, government agencies and other infrastructure in the U.S. and around the world.

One such campaign, tied to a group known as Volt Typhoon, involves cyberspies burrowing into critical infrastructure systems, like power grids and water treatment plants, with the goal of potentially disrupting or sabotaging them to distract the American public in the event China moves to invade Taiwan, officials have assessed.

Asked about these intrusions, Trump said, “Well, you don’t know that. I mean, I’d like to see it, but it’s very possible that they do.”

The remarks offer a rare public acknowledgment of the clandestine efforts the U.S. deploys to monitor Chinese computer networks and government officials. Intelligence agencies like the NSA and CIA rely on a range of covert tools, capabilities and secret partnerships to track foreign adversaries.

The CIA, in particular, has made a more public effort to recruit Chinese officials as assets. Its video campaigns aimed at recruiting Chinese personnel are working and have “inspired new sources,” an agency official previously said.

Trump’s remarks also reveal a notable diplomatic posture on the issue, particularly given how difficult cyber operations can be to publicly attribute or verify. 

Chinese officials routinely deny allegations of hacking and espionage, though Trump’s description of his conversation with Xi appeared to suggest some acknowledgment from Beijing that it has sought to infiltrate U.S. computer networks and recruit American assets of its own.

The White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Suspected Chinese spies sought out a former senior State Department officer late last year, requesting they draft an assessment of U.S. policy priorities in Venezuela in exchange for payment, Nextgov/FCW reported in January. Such recruitment efforts have resurfaced amid a wave of departures from the federal government over the last year, as the administration has pursued various measures to shrink the federal workforce.

In Trump’s second term, U.S. officials have beenseeking a more hardened approach against foreign hackers and cybercriminal groups. In doing so, they have created a budding market for offensive cyber capabilities that government and industry are still grappling with. Offensive cyber operations would be among the tools the administration plans to use against groups deemed threats to the U.S., according to a counterterrorism strategy released earlier this month.