The partnership was announced after a Monday meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chinese Minister for National Defense Liang Guanglie in Washington, D.C, according to the BBC.
It's "extremely important" for the two nations to be working together to "avoid a crisis in this area," said Panetta.
"Because the United States and China have developed the technological capabilities in this arena, it's extremely important that we work together to develop ways to avoid any miscalculation or misperception that could lead to a crisis in this area," he said.
Laing refuted claims that China was the main source of cyberattacks launched against the U.S. government and American businesses and citizens, countering the assessment of many cybersecurity experts.
Panetta also refuted those claims. "I can hardly agree with the proposition that the cyberattacks directed to the United States are directly coming from China," he said.
Reports from the U.S. government and American security firms have accused the Chinese government of sponsoring cyberattacks designed to steal high-tech intellectual property for Chinese firms.
Estimates of economic loss due to all cybercrime that hits U.S. businesses vary from $6 billion to $400 billion.