A few days after a high-level security dialogue between China and Australia in Sydney, the two countries have agreed to enhanced cyber security cooperation.

The move comes after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull raised cyber-enabled intellectual property theft issues with Premier Li Keqiang during the latter’s visit to Australia in March.

The two countries have agreed to set up a mechanism to discuss cyber security and cybercrime issues in order to prevent cyber incidents that could cause problems between them.

The move is consistent with the issues discussed in an April 21 dialogue held in Sydney between the Australian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, and Meng Jianzhu, secretary of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs.

The April 21 talks saw the two countries agreeing not to conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets, or confidential business information with the intent of obtaining a competitive advantage. This is consistent with a similar deal between the US and China.