Reports circulated Monday that China and Canada had signed an agreement vowing not to conduct state-sponsored cyber attacks against each other aimed at stealing trade secrets or other confidential business information.
A statement on the federal government website late last week revealed that the pact was reached during talks between Canada's national security and intelligence adviser, Daniel Jean, and senior communist party official Wang Yongqing.
The new agreement only covers economic cyber espionage, which includes hacking corporate secrets and proprietary technology, but does not deal with state-sponsored cyber spying for intelligence gathering.
A statement released by China's official Xinhua news agency last week about the meeting contained broadly similar wording on cyber attacks.
Some countries, including the United States, have long accused Beijing of sponsoring hacking attacks on companies in an effort to acquire sensitive foreign technology. China denies those accusations, and says that it is also a victim of hacking.
China enacted a new cyber security law this month, designed to strengthen critical infrastructure, even as many global tech firms and lobbies said the rules biased the playing field against firms beyond its borders.
