Spies asked for a US government analysis on a US-China strategic economic dialogue. Credit:AP

The US and China are negotiating what may become the first arms control accord for cyberspace, embracing a commitment by each country that it will not be the first to use cyber weapons to cripple the other's critical infrastructure during peacetime, officials involved in the talks say.

While such an agreement could address attacks on power stations, banking systems, cellphone networks and hospitals, it would not, at least in its first version, protect against most of the attacks China had been accused of conducting in the US, including the widespread poaching of intellectual property and the theft of millions of government employees' personal data.

The negotiations have been conducted with urgency in recent weeks amid hopes to announce an agreement when President Xi arrives in Washington for a state visit on Thursday.

Mr Obama told the US Business Roundtable on Wednesday that the rising number of cyber attacks would "probably be one of the biggest topics" of the summit meeting, and his goal was to see "if we and the Chinese are able to coalesce around a process for negotiations" that would, ultimately, "bring a lot of other countries along".