akihiro mikoda reports. >> reporter: the official discuss economic and strategic economic issues. u.s. diplomatic of state william burns expressed disappointment that china allowed edward snowden to leave hong kong for moscow. >> we were very disappointed with how the authorities in beijing and hong kong handled the snowden case, which undermined our effort to build the trust needed to manage difficult issues. >> reporter: but china's state counselor defended hong kong's actions. >> translator: with regard to the snowden affair, the central government of china has always respected the way the hong kong government handles matters. they have done everything in this case in accordance with the law and are beyond reproach. >> reporter: the u.s. government has charged snowden with disclosing details of secret u.s. surveillance programs. he's believed to be hiding out at the moscow airport. during the meeting, the u.s. government also demanded that china deal with cyber attacks on american government agencies and private companies. but the two countries achieved some positive results. t