Xi Jinping's Visit to Washington

Chinese media will overstate the impact of Xi Jinping’s first state visit to the United States and American commentators will carp about the failure to resolve intractable issues, but the visit scored a number of significant achievements. Cyber-theft is arguably the most important issue on the bilateral agenda. One such notable development was Xi’s clear statement that China is committed to reform and improve the global order from which it has benefitted and to which it has contributed. The two presidents also committed to mitigate malicious cyber activity from their national territory and to refrain from targeting critical infrastructure in peacetime. Declared willingness to work together in the multilateral arena to address global challenges was arguably the most important component of the agreements on climate change-related issues. As with all international agreements and statements of intent, we will not know how important any of the agreements announced during the visit are until we see how they are implemented.