The pair had a pow-wow at the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California and top of the agenda was both sides carrying out cyber spying. A senior US official said cybersecurity was now at the "centre of the relationship" between the two countries and Obama gave Mr Xi specific examples of the kind of cyber theft, in the private and public sectors that he was concerned about.

Xi "acknowledged" how important the issue was to Washington, and left California in no doubt where Obama stood on the issue. China insisted that Xi opposed all forms of cyberspying and it "should not become the root cause of mutual suspicion and frictions between our two countries."