NEW YORK - A US State Department official dismissed on Tuesday the possibility of a cyber war between China and the United States, while calling for building mutual confidence to avoid such an eventuality.

"People talk about cyber war. Frankly, I don't think we've really seen it," said Christopher Painter, coordinator for cyber issues at the State Department.

"Or to the extent we've seen it, it's much more overemphasized in terms of the threats we actually see out there," Painter said, admitting that such concerns exist.