Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday said his country would work with the United States in the fight against cybercrime, calling China a staunch defender of cyber security. "The Chinese government will not in whatever form engage in commercial theft," he told a group of American business executives in Seattle on the first day of his state visit. Xi said China was prepared to "set up a high-level joint dialogue mechanism" with the U.S. on hacking. Chinese government officials have denied claims that the country was behind recent cyberattacks on American businesses and government agencies. Xi is expected to meet Wednesday with 30 top business leaders including General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Apple's Tim Cook, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and investor Warren Buffet to discuss a bilateral investment treaty that would open the door for foreign companies to operate on a level playing field with domestic ones in both countries.