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Comment by uvdiv | Hacker News Reader

Then again, if Snowden were hypothetically spying for the PRC, Hong Kong would be the most logical place to seek protection. In this scenario the PRC would credibly protect him from the US, and European liberal democracies would not.

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How do you make the jump from leaking the existence of a massive secret surveillance network within the US to him being a spy?? What reason would a spy have to share this info with the public?? Sounds like FUD to me...

This is the smear they're running already - have seen him referred to as a "Chinese spy" a couple of times already. I'm sure they'll get Greenwald on charges of being his cohort for China.

Diplomatic incident ahoy!

Spying 101: don't go public.

If he was spying, then why Hong Kong, and why not Beijing directly?

Beijing woud look incredibly suspicious wouldn't it? It would be hard to buy the "strong freedom of speech tradition" story.

Protection, balanced with plausible deniability.

Once you're protected, there's no more need for denying.

I mean deniability for the Chinese : Hong Kong is independent enough that they can claim powerlessness to their American partners, but they are the elephant in the room and can ensure that they keep actual control of the situation.

Why not? They're both in the sovereign territory of China.

Deleted comment

The OP explains that the Hong Kong judicial system would handle an extradition, but Beijing would be able to veto it.

"Lawyers said Monday that any extradition request would also need to go through the city’s legal system before Beijing could intercede, a process that would likely be drawn out."

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