I find the high praise for the HK government very odd. Basically they told Snowden they'd stall for him (docs are missing page 4 - please resubmit) but he'd better hit the road fast. Worry about a domestic audience they add "With zero leverage now we promise to follow up on snooping." That will of course go no where.
The Chinese do not want to set the precedent that governments should ignore extradition treaties and thus harbor fugitives wanted on national security issues.
I don't blame the HK gov - just question some of the responses here.
I think a lot of HNers who live in Western countries (myself included) are so jaded with our respective governments subservience to the US that it's very nice for once to see a small country not immediately bend over and lube up the minute the US asks it to.
> it's very nice for once to see a small country not immediately bend over and lube up the minute the US asks it to.
Ah, but Hong Kong is not like any other small country. It is an autonomous region of China, which just happens to be the second most-powerful country in the world.
The United States can put an unlimited amount of diplomatic and economic pressure on a small country. They can keep ratcheting up the pressure until the small country has no choice but to give in. So you might as well give in right away, and avoid upsetting the Americans.
In contrast, the United States can only put a limited amount of pressure on Hong Kong. If the US were to go too far, then Beijing could intervene.
I think we all know that the true intentions of the countries involved in this matter and the public statements are not going to line up here. They would be absolute fools if they came out and said "we stalled to let him leave the country" but when you look at the situation it's almost undeniable that is what they did (not that they would probably see anything wrong with it).
Exactly right. Even worse, looks like Snowden was played for a fool (whatever his motivations). The HK/Chinese extracted couple of damning statements about NSA spying on Chinese and then tossed Snowden away. I doubt Snowden saw this coming. Also, looks like they had a "deal" with the US govt and then let Snowden go on some technicality. "Loss of face" for the US Gov for sure, a big thing in those parts of the world. None of this connected with the problem of NSA spying domestically and a completely muddled message. Now with the whole China/Russia/Ecaudor/Wikileaks angle good luck to Snowden getting any popular support. He looks more like a foreign agent.
The Chinese do not want to set the precedent that governments should ignore extradition treaties and thus harbor fugitives wanted on national security issues.
I don't blame the HK gov - just question some of the responses here.