The Obama administration says the US will take necessary measures to protect the American private sector against the alleged cyber threats posed by China.

“On cybersecurity, we will take necessary actions to protect our businesses and defend our networks against cyber-theft of trade secrets for commercial gain whether by private actors or the Chinese government,” according to President Barack Obama’s new National Security Strategy.

The 29-page document outlining Obama’s foreign policy priorities for the final two years of his second term was released on Friday.

US business lobbies asked the White House this week to help overturn new Chinese cybersecurity regulations they claim would have a negative effect on jobs in the US and market opportunities overseas.

The new regulations would force technology vendors to Chinese banks to give secret source code and adopt Chinese encryption algorithms.

The White House officials say the new policies require American tech companies to submit all secret code to China and use encryption that would enable the government to have access to companies’ products.

The US Chamber of Commerce and 16 other US business lobbies sent a letter to American officials including Secretary of State John Kerry and US Trade Representative Michael Froman on Feb. 4.

Part of the letter read, "(We) request your immediate action to work with Chinese officials to reverse an alarming number of troubling, new Chinese government policies impacting the information and communications technology (ICT) sector."

Unlike the 2010 version of the National Security Strategy, the new one states that “international law applies to cyberspace” something which many countries do not necessarily believe, said Adam Segal, a Chinese cyber policy expert and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The policy document says “we are shaping global standards for cybersecurity and building international capacity to disrupt and investigate cyber threats.”

Since May 2014, cybersecurity has been a significant issue between the US and China which accuse each other of abuses.

In 2014, the US indicted five members of the Chinese army for allegedly hacking the US which caused China to pull out of a joint cyber working group.

AT/GJH