(a) "The United States will not impose economic sanctions on Chinese businesses and individuals before the visit of China President Xi Jinping next week, a senior administration official said Monday.
“The decision followed an all-night meeting on Friday in which senior US and Chinese officials reached 'substantial agreement' on several cybersecurity issues, said the administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the topic’s sensitivity.
(b) "The agreement was reached during a visit by Xi’s special envoy Meng Jianzhu, a member of the political bureau of the Communist Party Central Committee. According to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, Meng met with Secretary of State John F Kerry, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and national security adviser Susan E Rice.
-作者: choi 时间: 9-15-2015 18:19
(3) Press Gaggle by Press Briefing: Press Secretary Josh Earnest en route Des Moines, IA, 9/14/15 (Aboard Air Force One) https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-p ... des-moines-ia-91415
The pertinent portion about China (uninterrupted; no omission):
"Q Can I ask about Ambassador Rice’s meeting on the weekend with her counterparts from China? Does this suggest that there’s going to be action on cyber issues before President Xi’s visit?
"MR. EARNEST: Let me first say that Secretary Meng -- I don't know if he is necessarily her counterpart, but the reason that she was participating in these conversations with U.S. officials is that he is often described as the point person in the Chinese government for cyber issues. And so that was the reason for his visit. As you saw from the readout that we put out over the weekend, he had meetings with an array of Obama administration officials to discuss that issue. That included some national security officials, some law enforcement officials, and then White House officials, including Ambassador Rice.
"I can tell you that there was a pretty candid exchange of views. We've been pretty blunt in describing the concerns that we have with China’s behavior in cyberspace. We have been blunt in our assessment that that has significant consequences for our economy and for our national security. And we certainly were pleased to have the opportunity to have that discussion with the Chinese, and I would anticipate that that discussion will continue when the President has the opportunity to meet with his counterpart.
"Q But you haven't been blunt publicly at least on that OPM hack, specifically, as it relates to China. Privately, was Rice more blunt about China’s role in that? Will the President be more blunt with Xi when he comes to town?
"MR. EARNEST: Well, there’s not a whole lot more detail I can provide about the conversations that took place at the end of last week and over the weekend. But I do think that Secretary Meng’s visit does illustrate that the Chinese government understands that the Obama administration is very serious about the level of concern we have with China’s activity in cyberspace.
"And whether that is, last year, the announcement of the indictment against five Chinese military officials for hacking, or other concerns that we’ve raised about China’s activity publicly, it should be clear to everyone in the United States, the same way that I now think it’s clear to Chinese officials, that this is an issue that the President himself is quite concerned about. And the President, on previous occasions when he’s met with his counterpart, has raised this concern, and I would anticipate that he’ll do so in their next meeting, as well.
"Q Do you have any updates on whether we’ll see sanctions against Chinese individuals before Xi’s visit?
"MR. EARNEST: I don’t have any additional update on the timing of sanctions. And that’s typical of the way that we pursue the sanctions policy, is that we don’t talk about it in advance because doing so only allows the potential targets of those sanctions to take steps to try to evade them before they’re put in place. So I don’t anticipate that we’re going to have a whole lot more information about that in advance of any action taken, if any action is taken.
"Q The readout of those meetings that -- FBI Director James Comey also was part of these discussions. Can you describe what his role was or why he was involved in the discussions?
"MR. EARNEST: Well, there is a role for law enforcement in this issue. As I mentioned, it was the Department of Justice that announced the indictment of five Chinese military officials, I believe this was last summer or last spring, for some of their cyber activity. So there is a role for law enforcement, so it’s appropriate that he would be a part of those discussions.
"The other thing that I would say is there is an expertise that’s built up at the FBI, and the FBI is often responsible for conducting a lot of investigations after we detect that intrusions have taken place. So I guess the point is there are a variety of ways in which law enforcement is involved in this particular issue. And so that’s why it was appropriate for the Director of the FBI to participate, as well.
"Q Are you worried at all about the optics at this point? Threats of sanctions, the President not staying at the Waldorf Astoria anymore -- are you worried that this whole thing could sort of be blown up? It’s supposed to be this ceremonial state visit, but it seems like there’s all these -- this sort of cloud hanging over the visit at this point with frank talk about cybersecurity, the President’s comments on Friday about how if China wants a war on cyber, that the U.S. would be involved and the U.S. would win that war. Do you worry that things have become sort of ominous concerning this visit so far?
"MR. EARNEST: No, I don’t worry about that. And principally, the reason for that is simply that we had this public discussion about our concerns about some of China’s behavior in cyberspace in advance of meetings between the two Presidents. I remember standing in this spot on this airplane when we were flying to Sunnylands in advance of the President’s first meeting with President Xi, where we talked about the likelihood that President Obama would raise concerns about China’s cyber activity. So this is typical of the lead-up to presidential-level meetings between the United States and China.
“That said, while there certainly are areas of competition between the United States and China, there are also important areas of cooperation. And whether it’s on climate issues or confronting Iran over their nuclear program, we have been able to effectively coordinate with the Chinese to advance the interests of the citizens of both of our countries. And I’m confident that there will be extensive discussion of some of those issues, as well.
“Q Have the Chinese expressed any concerns about U.S. cyber activity? I mean, you’re not exactly passive in this regard.
“MR. EARNEST: Well, I don’t have any additional details about their conversation to -- about the conversations that took place at the end of last week and over the weekend to share. For any concerns that the Chinese officials may have raised, I’d refer you to them.
Note:
(a) “Press Gaggle by Press Secretary”
(i) gaggle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaggle
("A ‘press gaggle’ (as distinct from a press conference or press briefing) is the nickname given to an informal briefing by the White House Press Secretary which (as used by press secretaries for the George W Bush administration) is on the record, but disallows videography")
(ii) Wiktionary is similar but say, in addition, of “press gaggle”: “First recorded in the briefing sense in the early 2000s.” About George W’s time.
(b) The surname Earnest is American or English variants of German surname Ernest.
(c) "As you saw from the readout that we put out over the weekend, he [Secretary Menghad meetings with an array of Obama administration officials to discuss that issue."
(i) definition:
(d) "But you haven't been blunt publicly at least on that OPM hack, specifically,"
United States Office of Personnel Management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un ... ersonnel_Management
(an independent agency of the United States government; The OPM is responsible for investigating individuals to give them Secret and Top Secret clearances)
(e) "Are you worried at all about the optics at this point? Threats of sanctions, the [US] President not staying at the Waldorf Astoria anymore -- are you worried that this whole thing could sort of be blown up?"
definitions of optics
(i) "1: (used with a sing. verb) The branch of physics * * *
2: (used with a pl. verb) InformalThe way a situation or action appears to the general public <Voters were put off by the optics of the candidate's financial dealings>"
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co http://www.thefreedictionary.com/optics
(ii) BuzzWord: optics. Macmillandictionary.com, undated. www.macmillandictionary.com/us/buzzword/entries/optics.html
* "journalistic English appears to have cottoned on to a figurative use of the word"