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U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington September 25, 2015. Reuters/Gary Cameron

Concerns over the new U.S.-China cyber agreement grow as a top U.S. official expresses his scepticism over the agreement’s power to slow cyber-attacks on U.S. computer networks.

On Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the agreement fails to include particular penalties in case of future cyber-attacks. However, he added that the U.S. government could resort to economic sanctions and other tools to respond if situation demanded.

According to Reuters, he said that he wasn’t optimistic about how much the agreement would eliminate Chinese cyber attacks. He urged the U.S. to “trust but verify” before delving into any action.

"Such malicious cyber activity will continue and probably accelerate until we establish and demonstrate the capability to deter malicious state-sponsored cyber activity," he said while noting that the international community requires a credible deterrent agreement.

Although U.S. intelligence officials hold that the cyber agreement between China and the United States, which has been struck to lessen cyber attacks, was an effective initiative, it remains unclear as to what extent it could affect to curb cyber espionage. He said it was difficult to assess how much cyber espionage was conducted by the Chinese government. As a result, the extent to which it should adhere to the rules outlined in the agreement remains blurry.

Talks between the U.S. and China had held last week when China’s President Xi Jinping visited the White House. The U.S. has held China responsible for various cyber-attacks it faced in the recent days, including one at the Office of Personnel Management, which exposed the personal records of 21.5 million government employees and jobseekers.

The U.S. President Barack Obama said that both the countries had reached a " common understanding,” reflecting that none of the governments would be supporting cyber theft of corporate secrets or business information voluntarily.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told the committee that if another cyber-attack is suspected from China’s side, then the U.S. would be forced to take stern and vigorous actions against them. He added that the Pentagon was planning to formulate a broad cyber warfare policy as well.

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