Special to WorldTribune.com

Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon

The Obama administration continues to play down one of the nation’s most damaging Chinese cyber espionage operations in order to maintain a dialogue with China and host a summit for its leader this fall.

Weeks after the discovery that millions of personal records on federal workers was stolen by Chinese hacker in an intelligence operation, the president and his advisers failed to condemn the state-sponsored security breach whose damage continues to worsen almost weekly.

The Obama administration, in a sign of its apparent unwillingness to take any steps against China for the hacking, will go ahead with the hosting this week of the latest Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington. The dialogue is known for producing little in the way of tangible results of regular meetings between senior U.S. and Chinese officials. The questionable diplomacy is said by its supporters to advance U.S. interests. However, keeping secret the Chinese connection to the cyber attack is likely to encourage further attacks.

Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, made no mention in a briefing for reporters whether the Chinese role in the OPM hack would be discussed at the dialogue, which begins Tuesday. … China has denied any role in the OPM attack, as it has done in the past when Chinese hacking has been exposed on numerous occasions. …

The talks are being led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew who will meet a large Chinese delegation headed by Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

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  China, Chinese hackers, cyber security, No problem: Obama silent on China’s massive theft of federal employees’ data, OPM