The Chinese government was pleased that Mr. Snowden disclosed the extent of American surveillance of Internet and telephone conversations around the world, giving the Chinese people a chance to talk about what they describe as American hypocrisy regarding surveillance practices, said Mr. Jin and the person familiar with the consultations between Hong Kong and China. 
 
 But in the longer term, China’s overall relationship with the United States, which spans global economic, military and security issues, was more important than the feelings of the public in China and Hong Kong, who felt that the contractor should be protected from the reach of the United States, analysts said. 
 
 Mainland Chinese officials “will be relieved he’s gone — the popular sentiment in Hong Kong and China is to protect him because he revealed United States surveillance here, but the governments don’t want trouble in the relationship,” said the person familiar with the consultations between Beijing and Hong Kong. 
 
 Mr. Snowden went public in Hong Kong on June 9, the day after the meeting between Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi ended, as the source of a series of disclosures in the British newspaper The Guardian and The Washington Post about classified national security programs. 
 
 The stream of information about the extent of American worldwide eavesdropping shifted the focus in the public sniping between the Obama administration and China over cybersecurity that had been unfolding for months. 
 
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 In a series of speeches, senior officials in the Obama administration, including the national security adviser, Tom Donilon, and the defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, had taken the offensive against China, publicly accusing it of cyberespionage against American businesses. Mr. Donilon said in a speech in March that China was responsible for theft of confidential business information and proprietary technologies through digital intrusions on an “unprecedented scale.” 
 
 In response to those accusations, China said that it was the victim of cyberattacks from the United States. 
 
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 Mr. Snowden’s disclosures appeared to confirm the Chinese government’s argument, and put the United States on the defensive. The highly classified documents that Mr. Snowden gave to the two newspapers showed that the N.S.A. compiled logs of virtually all telephone calls in the United States and collected the e-mail of foreigners from American Internet companies. 
 
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 Mr. Snowden has denied giving China classified documents and said he had spoken only to journalists. But his public statements, directly and to reporters, have contained intelligence information of great interest to China. 
 
 Two Western intelligence experts, who worked for major government spy agencies, said they believed that the Chinese government had managed to drain the contents of the four laptops that Mr. Snowden said he brought to Hong Kong, and that he said were with him during his stay at a Hong Kong hotel. 
 
 If that were the case, they said, China would no longer need or want to have Mr. Snowden remain in Hong Kong. 
 
 The disclosures by Mr. Snowden set off a surge of commentary against American “double faced” and “arrogant” behavior by many users of China’s version of Twitter. 
 
 In some instances, the Chinese news media made snide references to what it called the gap between how the United States portrayed itself, and what the United States practiced. “Washington must be grinding its teeth because Snowden’s revelations have almost overturned the image of the U.S. as the defender of a free Internet,” Global Times, which often reflects the official point of view, wrote in an editorial. 
 
 The precise details of how the Chinese government dealt with Hong Kong authorities were not immediately known. 
 
 But Beijing appears to have decided that weeks of focus on Mr. Snowden in Hong Kong and his disclosures about the American government’s global surveillance practices were enough, and that he could turn into a liability, said a second person familiar with the handling of Mr. Snowden. “Beijing has gotten the most they can out of the Snowden situation,” that person said. 
 
 A senior diplomat familiar with the way the Chinese government works said just before the departure of Mr. Snowden became public that he believed that Beijing would do all it could to keep Mr. Snowden out of American hands. The Chinese public would be outraged if the contractor was extradited, put on trial and jailed, he said. At the same time, the Obama administration would put relentless pressure on Beijing to get Mr. Snowden, he said. 
 
 “I see the sun of Sunnylands disappearing into the snow of Snowden,” the diplomat said. ||||| Hackers linked to the Chinese government broke into computers belonging to a Navy contractor and stole a trove of sensitive information about a U.S. Navy project and undersea warfare, The Washington Post is reporting. 
 
 The data pilfered from the contractor’s computer included plans on a U.S. project to build a supersonic anti-ship missile that can be mounted on American submarines by 2020, according to the Post, which cited an anonymous U.S. officials. 
 
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 The Chinese hackers targeted an unnamed contractor working for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a Navy research and development facility headquartered in Newport, R.I. They obtained 614 gigabytes of data on a secret project known as Sea Dragon, as well as signals and sensor data, documents on electronic warfare, and other information. 
 
 While the information was stored on the contractor’s unclassified network, it was described as “highly sensitive” in the Post report. 
 
 Security professionals have long observed Chinese spies conducting cyberattacks against U.S. defense contractors in order to spy on military capabilities. 
 
 The activity has persisted despite a landmark cyber pact between then-President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015 in which both parties agreed to stop supporting cyber-enabled intellectual property theft against businesses within one another’s borders. 
 
 The breaches in question occurred in January and February. 
 
 “There are measures in place that require companies to notify the government when a ‘cyber incident’ has occurred that has actual or potential adverse effects on their networks that contain controlled unclassified information,” Navy spokesman Cmdr. Bill Speaks was quoted as telling the Post. 
 
 Speaks further stated, “It would be inappropriate to discuss further details at this time.” 
 
 The development comes amid tense trade negotiations between the U.S. and China. Relations between both countries have also been strained over the South China Sea, where Beijing has made disputed territorial claims and deployed military systems. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Trump administration is seeking China's help in negotiating with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. President Trump Donald John TrumpEx-CIA chief Brennan compares Trump to Bernie Madoff Timeline: The controversies of Scott Pruitt Warren: Trump should have fired Pruitt ‘28 scandals ago’ MORE is set to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. ||||| President Obama wants to strike up a friendly tone with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet today in California but the issues on the table are anything but informal. Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management, joins MoneyBeat. 
 
 President Barack Obama and China's new leader, Xi Jinping, made broad commitments Friday to work together on cybersecurity and to improve military-to-military relations as the two leaders wound up a first round of talks during an informal summit at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, California. 
 
 But both leaders said they'd not yet had detailed talks on cybersecurity—one of the most contentious bilateral issues—and Mr. Obama said they would have "more extensive discussions" during a private dinner Friday night. They were due to hold more talks in the morning, before winding up the summit around midday Saturday. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama shake hands at the Annenberg Retreat, Calif. 
 
 At a news conference before the dinner, Mr. Obama said that China would have similar concerns about cybersecurity as its economy became more dependent on research and entrepreneurship. "Which is why I think we can work together on this rather than at cross purposes," he said. 
 
 Mr. Xi said: "By conducting good faith cooperation, we can remove misgivings and make information security and cybersecurity a positive area of cooperation between China and the U.S." 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Associated Press Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping sits in a model of the lunar rover vehicle during a tour of Johnson Space Center in Houston in 1979. 
 
 Cowboy Hats and Barbecue Notable visits to the U.S. by Chinese leaders 1979 Deng Xiaoping, following normalization of relations, famously dons a cowboy hat at a Texas rodeo—and set the tone for a decade of warming ties. 1997 Arrival of President Jiang Zemin, at invitation of Bill Clinton, formalizes a thaw in ties eight years after Tiananmen. 2002 President George W. Bush hosts Jiang at the Bush family ranch in Texas, after Beijing backs U.S.-led war on terror. They eat barbecue and take a truck tour of the ranch. 2006 President Hu Jintao is denied full state honors and confronted by a Falun Gong protester on White House lawn. 2011 President Obama receives Hu at the White House with full honors, even as bilateral tensions mount. Obama welcomes China's 'peaceful rise,' a term coined by Hu. 2012 Xi Jinping—then vice president and President Hu's presumptive successor—attends a Lakers game and reunites in Iowa with a couple he stayed with on a visit there in 1985 2013 Xi returns as president for an informal two-day summit with Obama in California. 
 
 Chinese and U.S. officials are both hoping that the informal format of the meeting—the two leaders' first since Mr. Xi became president in March—will give them the time and the right atmosphere to forge a personal rapport and reverse a downward spiral in relations that many analysts fear could lead to conflict. 
 
 Chinese Leaders' Postcards From America View Slideshow Associated Press Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping visited the U.S. in 1979 
 
 For Mr. Obama, who met Mr. Xi for the first time last year when he visited the U.S. as vice president, the summit was an opportunity to get to know the man who will lead China over the next decade. But the Obama administration also had a long list of economic and security concerns, many of which it has confronted China with for years, with mixed results. They include Chinese cyberespionage, North Korea's nuclear program, Beijing's maritime disputes in Asia and Chinese market reforms. 
 
 Mr. Xi, too, had much at stake, bringing with him a proposal to redefine the relationship with the U.S. as one of equal "great powers,"–a personal initiative that is part of his broader campaign to promote a "Chinese dream" of a strong nation reclaiming the position in the world that it held until the Opium Wars of the 19th Century. 
 
 Before the first round of talks, the two leaders—both wearing white dress shirts with open collars and no ties—walked together on the grounds of the estate in the 115-degree heat, and shook hands in front of the cameras. They each made brief statements calling for a new era of bilateral relations, although Mr. Obama stopped short of echoing Mr. Xi's "great power" formula. 
 
 The news conference was dominated by cybersecurity, talks on which could be complicated by the recent disclosures on electronic surveillance by Mr. Obama's own government. 
 
 "What both President Xi and I recognize is that because of these incredible advances in technology, that the issue of cybersecurity and the need for rules and common approaches to cybersecurity are going to be increasingly important as part of bilateral relationships and multilateral relationships," Mr. Obama said. 
 
 "In some ways these are uncharted waters and you don't have the kinds of protocols that cover military issues for example and arms issues where nations have a lot of experiencing in trying to negotiate what's acceptable and what's not." 
 
 Mr. Obama sought to draw a distinction between activities such as hacking or cyber-theft, and the kind of surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency. He also noted that cybersecurity wasn't just a concern for the U.S. and China, and that problems were often caused by nonstate actors. 
 
 "We're going to have to work very hard to build a system of defense and protections both in the private sector and in public sector even as we negotiate with other countries around the world in setting up common rules of the road," he said. 
 
 Mr. Xi remarked that in the days before the summit, he had noticed a sharp increase in media coverage of cybersecurity issues. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close AFP/Getty Images President Barack Obama, left and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, hold a bilateral meeting in California. 
 
 "This might give people the sense or feeling that cybersecurity as a threat mainly comes from China or that the issue cybersecurity is the biggest problem in the U. S-China relationship," he said. "The application of new technology is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it will drive progress…. on the other hand it might create some problems for regulators and it might infringe upon the rights of states, enterprises, societies and individuals." 
 
 He repeated China's long-standing position that it too has concerns about cybersecurity and is a victim of hacking attacks. 
 
 Mr. Xi also said the two sides should improve military to military relations, as well as cooperation on trade and the environment. He said he looked forward to maintaining close communication with President Obama, who he invited to visit China for a similar summit "at an appropriate time". 
 
 Mr. Obama said the two sides would "institutionalize and regularize" military-to-military talks that have often been suspended in the past, and which aren't yet formally part of a regular U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the latest round of which takes place next month. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Getty Images President Barack Obama, left, and Chinese President Hu Jintao, right, in 2011. 
 
 Mr. Xi didn't appear to be using notes during either the news conference or his earlier statement with Mr. Obama—demonstrating a confidence in his own abilities and in his standing within the Communist Party that his predecessor, Hu Jintao, never displayed during his 10 years in office. 
 
 U.S. officials said Mr. Xi pushed for the summit and agreed to the informal format despite Chinese leaders' usual preference for highly scripted talking points approved in advance by China's top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee. 
 
 Mr. Xi himself drew parallels with the 1972 meeting between Chairman Mao Zedong and President Richard Nixon in Beijing, which laid the ground for the normalization of relations six years later. Comparisons have also been made with a visit to the U.S. by Deng Xiaoping in 1979, signaling a return to personal diplomacy in the bilateral relationship. 
 
 But with expectations in China running so high, analysts say that if Mr. Xi fails to demonstrate a rapport with Mr. Obama—and entice the U.S. to reciprocate his overtures—he could face criticism at home for spurning a Chinese trend of consensus-based decision-making in favor of concentrating more power in his own hands. 
 
 Chinese media are already portraying the Sunnylands summit as a historic victory for Mr. Xi's "new-type great power" initiative—a formula designed to prevent the military conflict that has often arisen between a rising power and an established one. 
 
 "China and the United States must find a new path, one that is different from the inevitable confrontation and conflict between the major countries of the past," Mr. Xi said. "And that is to say the two sides must work together to build a new model of major country relationship." 
 
 Mr. Xi sought to allay U.S. concerns that his talk of national rejuvenation implied that China seeks to displace the U.S. as the dominant military power in Asia. 
 
 "I stated very clearly to President Obama that China will be firmly committed to the path of peaceful development," he said. "By the Chinese dream we seek to have economic prosperity, national renewal and people's well-being.…It is connected to the American dream and the beautiful dreams people in other countries may have." 
 
 Mr. Obama responded by saying he welcomed China's continued "peaceful rise"--echoing a term coined by Mr. Xi's predecessor, Hu Jintao, that has been used less frequently by Chinese officials since Mr. Xi took power. 
 
 Mr. Obama endorsed the goal of seeking ways to avoid conflict, but stopped short of echoing Mr. Xi's "great power" formulation, saying instead that he hoped for "more extended" and informal talks leading to a "new model of cooperation." 
 
 "We've got a lot of work to do to take these broad understandings down to the level of specifics and that will require further discussions not only today and tomorrow but for weeks, months, to come," he said. 
 
 "But what I'm very encouraged about is that both President Xi and myself recognize that we have a unique opportunity to take the US-China relationship to a new level and I am absolutely committed that we don't miss that opportunity." 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Newport News Daily Press/Associated Press Chinese President Jiang Zemin waves to the crowd during a visit to Colonial Williamsburg in 1997. 
 
 Beijing offered some apparent sweeteners in the run-up to the meeting in California. Chen Guangfu, the brother of Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist who took refuge in the U.S. Embassy last year and later moved to the U.S., said on Friday that Chinese authorities had issued passports to him and their mother, following long delays. 
 
 China also suggested last week that it might be willing to join U.S.-led talks to strike an Asia-Pacific free-trade agreement, which it previously denounced as part of a U.S. containment strategy. On North Korea, there were also glimmers of hope for the U.S. side, according to U.S. officials. The new Chinese leader has displayed less tolerance for North Korean sabre-rattling, and China recently ordered a state bank to close the account of North Korea's foreign-exchange bank. 
 
 The Xinhua news agency, a mouthpiece of the Chinese government, said Friday that the North Korean nuclear issue could be a "converging point," but called on Washington to improve its ties with Pyongyang. 
 
 —Andrew Browne in Chengdu and Tom Catan in Rancho Mirage, Calif. contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Jeremy Page at jeremy.page@wsj.com and Colleen McCain Nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com 
 
 A version of this article appeared June 8, 2013, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Stakes Are High for Summit. ||||| Story highlights U.S. has asked China to help combat North Korean hacking, official says 
 
 Guardians of Peace mocks the FBI 
 
 U.S. says it's confident North Korea is behind cyberattack 
 
 North Korea warns of "serious consequences" if the U.S. keeps tying it to the attack 
 
 The United States has asked China for help battling North Korean hacking of American information systems, such as the Sony Pictures incident, a senior administration official told CNN on Saturday. 
 
 "We have discussed this issue with the Chinese to share information, express our concerns about this attack, and to ask for their cooperation," the official said. "In our cybersecurity discussions, both China and the United States have expressed the view that conducting destructive attacks in cyberspace is outside the norms of appropriate cyber behavior." 
 
 North Korea's Internet traffic goes through China. President Barack Obama said Friday, "We've got no indication that North Korea was acting in conjunction with another country." 
 
 The New York Times first reported that the United States had approached China. 
 
 On Saturday, the Guardians of Peace, a group of hackers accused of performing the cyberattack on Sony Pictures, mocked the FBI in a new statement. 
 
 "The result of investigation by FBI is so excellent that you might have seen what we were doing with your own eye," said the statement posted on the file-sharing website pastebin. "We congratulate you (sic) success. FBI is the BEST in the world. You will find the gift for FBI at the following address. Enjoy!" 
 
 JUST WATCHED North Korea: 'Framed' in Sony cyber-attack Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH North Korea: 'Framed' in Sony cyber-attack 01:24 
 
 JUST WATCHED Obama: Dictators cannot censor us Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Obama: Dictators cannot censor us 03:45 
 
 The link provided in the message leads to a YouTube video titled "You Are An Idiot." 
 
 The FBI declined comment on the message. 
 
 FBI says North Korea responsible 
 
 The FBI said that North Korea is responsible for the cyberattack on Sony Pictures. An FBI investigation linked the malware, infrastructure and techniques used by the Guardians of Peace in the Sony attack to previous North Korean cyberattacks. 
 
 The hackers broke into Sony's servers, published private emails and information, and threatened to attack movie theaters screening "The Interview," a comedy film about an assassination plot on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 
 
 Earlier Saturday, North Korea slammed U.S. claims that the regime is responsible for a cyberattack on Sony Pictures -- and then proposed the two countries work together. 
 
 "Whoever is going to frame our country for a crime should present concrete evidence," the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported. 
 
 "America's childish investigation result and its attempt to frame us for this crime shows their hostile tendency towards us." 
 
 But in a rare move, the North Korean regime said both countries should work together. 
 
 "While America has been criticized by its own public and continues to point the finger at us, we suggest mutual investigation with America on this case," KCNA said. 
 
 "If America refuses our proposal of mutual investigation, continues to link us to this case, and talk about actions in response, they (America) will be met with serious consequences." 
 
 U.S. replies to North Korea 
 
 National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh replied to the North Korean statement: 
 
 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded How the Sony hack unfolded – Sony Pictures announce the controversial comedy "The Interview," a film depicting the assassination of North Korea's leader, will have a limited release on Christmas Day. The studio previously announced it would shelve plans to release the film after it became the victim of a cyber attack thought to have originated in North Korea. Click to see how the saga unfolded. Hide Caption 1 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded In June 2014, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said "The Interview" was "the most undisguised terrorism." "If the U.S. administration connives at and patronizes the screening of the film, it will invite a strong and merciless countermeasure," he said. Hide Caption 2 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded In November, "The Guardians of Peace," a hacker group with suspected ties to North Korea, said that it had hacked Sony Pictures and released massive amounts of data. The group added that there would be more leaks. Hide Caption 3 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 5 -- Hackers exposed the security numbers of 47,423 people including Conan O'Brien, Sylvester Stallone, Rebel Wilson, Judd Apatow and Frank Stallone. Hide Caption 4 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded In early December, hackers emailed Sony employees warning that "your family will be in danger." Guardians of Peace have claimed the email did not come from them. The FBI confirmed in a statement they were aware of the email and are investigating the "person or group responsible for the recent attack on the Sony Pictures network." Many security experts said the hack increasingly pointed to North Korea. Hide Caption 5 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 7 -- North Korea's state-run propaganda arm said they were not responsible for the Sony hack attack but applauded it as "a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK." They added they could not be responsible as America is "a country far across the ocean." Hide Caption 6 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 8 -- Another message appeared on a website saying: "We have already given our clear demand to the management team of SONY, however, they have refused to accept. Do carry out our demand if you want to escape us. And, Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War!" Hide Caption 7 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded Sony Hack Timeline – December 11 -- Another leaked email revealed a controversial exchange between a Sony executive and a producer, speculating over President Barack Obama's favorite films, referring to "Django Unchained" and other movies about African Americans such as "12 Years a Slave." Hide Caption 8 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 15 -- Sony Pictures asked news organizations to stop examining and publicizing the information made public by the hackers. Attorney David Boies said that the hackers' tactics are part of "an ongoing campaign explicitly seeking to prevent [Sony] from distributing a motion picture." Hide Caption 9 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 16 -- In an email to Sony Pictures' co-chair Amy Pascal, producer Scott Rudin called Angelina Jolie "minimally talented" and a "spoiled brat" with a "rampaging... ego". Jolie and Pascal were later photographed running into each other at an event with Jolie giving Pascal a nasty look. The leaks also revealed the secret aliases of some well-known actors such as Tom Hanks, Sara Michelle Gellar and Jessica Alba. Hide Caption 10 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 16 -- The New York premiere of "The Interview" was canceled after "The Guardians of Peace" posted a threat against moviegoers. The message said: "We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places 'The Interview' be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to," the hacking group said. "The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001." Hide Caption 11 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 17 -- Two former Sony employees sued the company for failing to protect their private information. The plaintiffs seek to form a class action lawsuit of up to 15,000 former employees. The plaintiffs want Sony to provide them with five years of credit monitoring, bank monitoring, identity theft insurance and credit restoration services. They also called for Sony to be subject to regular privacy audits. Hide Caption 12 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 18 -- Sony decided to cancel the release of "The Interview," a decision that sparked outrage among celebrities and politicians. A movie theater in Texas announced they would offer a free screening of Team America -- which features the leader's father Kim Jong Il -- instead until Paramount shut that down too. Sony also downplayed the possibility that the film could be released online. Hide Caption 13 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 19 -- President Obama said in a news conference that Sony "made a mistake" in response to the studio's decision to cancel its plans to release "The Interview" on Christmas Day. He told CNN later that week that the Sony hack was an act of "cybervandalism", not "an act of war". Hide Caption 14 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded December 21 -- Sony Pictures' CEO Michael Lynton responds to President Obama's comments, telling CNN "we did not cave or back down." Mr Lynton also said Sony were looking into releasing "The Interview" on the internet but no major distributor has volunteered to release the film. Hide Caption 15 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded How the Sony hack unfolded – December 22 -- North Korea's internet goes black for more than nine hours. The cause of the outage is unknown , but experts have suggested that a lone hacker could have carried it out, others even argued that the North Korean government could have deliberately disconnected themselves. Hide Caption 16 of 17 17 photos: How the Sony hack unfolded How the Sony hack unfolded – December 23 -- Sony Pictures announced "The Interview" will be released on Christmas Day but only in a limited number of theatres. The studio's CEO Michael Lynton said: "while we hope this is only the first step of the film's release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech." So far more than 200 independently-owned theatres have agreed to show the film. Hide Caption 17 of 17 
 
 "As the FBI made clear, we are confident the North Korean government is responsible for this destructive attack. We stand by this conclusion. The government of North Korea has a long history of denying responsibility for destructive and provocative actions. If the North Korean government wants to help, they can admit their culpability and compensate Sony for the damages this attack caused." 
 
 Obama said that Sony Pictures made a mistake in canceling the release of the movie. 
 
 "I am sympathetic to the concerns that they face," Obama said. "Having said all that, yes, I think they made a mistake. Let's not get into that way of doing business." 
 
 North Korea rejected the notion that it would attack "innocent moviegoers." 
 
 "We will not tolerate the people who are willing to insult our supreme leader, but even when we retaliate, we will not conduct terror against innocent moviegoers," KCNA said. 
 
 "The retaliation will target the ones who are responsible and the originators of the insults. Our army has the intention and ability to do (so)." 
 
 Analyst: We underestimated North Korea 
 
 The show may go on 
 
 Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton rebuffed Obama's criticism in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, saying his company did not make a mistake. 
 
 He said the decision to pull back from the planned December 25 release was based on major movie theater companies telling Sony that they would not screen the film. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Sony CEO: We did not make a mistake Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sony CEO: We did not make a mistake 01:41 
 
 "We have not caved. We have not given in," Lynton said. "We have persevered, and we have not backed down. We have always had the desire to have the American public see this movie." 
 
 And despite enduring what he called "the worst cyberattack in American history," Lynton said his studios would make the movie again. But in retrospect, he may have "done some things slightly differently." 
 
 A defiant Sony scrambles to find a way out for 'The Interview'
– Cyber-spying, trade, North Korea, US military maneuvers—there's no shortage of big issues for President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping to tackle tonight and tomorrow during their informal summit in Southern California. But the biggest emphasis is on establishing "personal chemistry," reports the Wall Street Journal. The leaders will have six hours of talks, a private dinner, and walks around the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage to try to achieve it. As the summit opened this evening, Obama said he hoped it would establish a "new model of cooperation" between the nations, and Xi used the phrase "a new model of major country relations," reports Politico. China's alleged cyber-spying is likely at the top of the US agenda, and the Guardian reinforced the point earlier today with a story saying that Obama ordered up a list of potential overseas cyber-targets last year. It doesn't include specifics, but any such list would likely have plenty of Chinese targets. (The AP doesn't think the story is bombshell material—it notes that the White House released a declassified version of the president's directive in January.) As for the summit, the New York Times has the unusual detail that while Obama will be sleeping on site at the estate in Rancho Mirage, Xi and his officials will bunk at a nearby hotel, apparently worried about their rooms being bugged.