U.S. officials have said President Barack Obama plans to confront Chinese President Xi Jinping next week about deep concerns in the U.S. about China's official cyber-spying, and will insist that it be stopped.

Obama visits Beijing next week for the APEC summit and a one-on-one with the Chinese president.

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Briefing journalists about Obama's trip to Asia, the officials said while there has been a temporary reduction of cyber espionage by China's government and military operators, there has been no remarkable change in the country's behaviour.

Reuters reports that Obama's message to Xi will be that Beijing could not continue to seek competitive advantage against other countries, using cyber-spying and other means that do not conform to international norms, according to the officials.

China has refused to confirm that cyber-espionage is ever part of state policy, saying that America is making things up.

Earlier this year, the U.S. indicted five officers of the People's Liberation Army for at least 31 counts of economic espionage, trade secret theft, identity theft, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, and a host of other crimes.

It was the first time the U.S. has charged a whole country with economic espionage.

In addition to calling the charges as "made up," China warned the indictments would damage Sino-American cooperation and mutual trust. China also cancelled a U.S.-China cyber-security forum after the charges were filed.

The five officers, according to prosecutors, were part of a unit in the PLA called Unit 61398. Security firm Mandiant reported that the unit has thousands of  workers working in a 12-story building just outside of Shanghai where they pilfer intellectual property and government secrets.