Henry Blodget
Published 6:51 pm, Thursday, June 13, 2013

China will consider whether NSA leaker Edward Snowden is an asset or liability to China's state security, Teddy Ng and Zhang Hong of the South China Morning Post report.

And after China determines that, apparently, the country will decide whether or not to extradite him.

In the meantime, Snowden is scoring points for China in the propaganda war.

Yesterday, China State television network CCTV weighed in on the Snowden case, saying he "risked his own life to expose the U.S. hypocrisy," the SCMP reports ...

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/China-To-Weigh-Snowden-s-Fate-4599920.php

Updated: 2013-06-14 07:56
By Chen Weihua (China Daily)

... Snowden has bitterly reminded people in the US of the surveillance society they are living in.

There is no doubt that the Obama administration has been hugely embarrassed by the scandal since the Democratic president has long campaigned for transparency and against the government's overreach during the George W. Bush years.

The phone and Internet companies that have aided the NSA in mining people's phone and e-mail data have also come under public scrutiny. Indeed, such companies as Google, Apple, Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook, Verizon and AT&T have betrayed the trust of people worldwide ...

What is chilling is that the Obama administration has not only denied any wrongdoing, it has vehemently defended the NSA surveillance program as legal and necessary. It is also doing everything it can to hunt down Snowden and charge him with treason ...

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2013-06/14/content_16621854.htm

Snowden revelations "not news" to Beijing, which has no intention of "turning it into a political case," says top foreign policy adviser
Friday, 14 June, 2013 [Updated: 12:02PM]
Patrick Boehler

The central government will be "very discreet" in handling the possible surrender of US whiste-blower Edward Snowden to the United States, according to a top foreign policy adviser to the Chinese leadership.

Beijing "will privately tell the Hong Kong government its views. They will be very discreet," the source said in a phone interview with the South China Morning Post, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source, a senior scholar, said it was not yet clear whether Beijing would intervene in the matter.

His comments come after intense speculation in Hong Kong over what role Beijing would play should the US government ask Hong Kong to hand over Snowden under a 1998 extradition treaty ...

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1260590/beijing-will-not-exploit-snowden-case-says-senior-foreign-policy-adviser

By Xu Peixi
China.org.cn
June 14, 2013

In terms of scope, major transnational service providers ranging from Google to Apple are involved in allowing the NSA to access their customers' data for the purposes of "surveillance." Nearly all types of services ranging from email to VoIP have come within the program's scope and it originates in a country which dominates the world's Internet resources – a fact which is acknowledged in the information leaked by Snowden clearly states: "Much of the world's communications flow through the U.S." and the information is accessible. The case indicates that through outsourcing and contracting, Big Brother is breaching the fundamental rights of citizens by getting unfettered access to their most personal communications.

As the case unfolds, there are many things to worry about. How do we make sense of the fact that the market and the state colluded in the abuse of private information via what represents the backbone of many modern day infrastructures? How do we rationalize the character of Snowden and his fellow whistleblowers? How do we understand the one-sided cyber attack accusations the U.S. has poured upon China in the past few months? To what degree have foreign users of these Internet services fallen victim to this project? Among all these suspicions, let us clarify two types of American personality.

First of all, Snowden's case offers us a rare chance to reexamine the integrity of American politicians and the management of American-dominant Internet companies, and it appears that while many of these individuals verbally attack other nations and people in the name of freedom and democracy, they ignore America's worsening internal situation. In an eloquent speech on Internet freedom, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that if Internet companies can't act as "responsible stewards of their own personal information," then they would lose customers and their survival would be threatened. In the same speech, she also urged U.S. media companies to take a proactive role in challenging foreign governments' demands for censorship and surveillance ...

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2013-06/14/content_29120530.htm

Good gawd.

The guy manages to show up in Hong Kong, hitting the news just in time to embarrass the President in his conversations with the Chinese

Hmmm

He camps out in a posh hotel not far from the American consulate, which he describes as a CIA station, and explains he's afraid the CIA will hire Chinese criminal gangs to kill him

Hmmm

Dunno

Libertarian who suddenly decided: Screw Hawaii! I want to spent my life in Hong Kong! ?

Bold attempt by the CIA to plant an agent in China disguised as a clueless nitwit?

Clueless nitwit who unknowingly engaged in online conversations with some Chinese agent who talked him into Hong Kong as the perfect place to hang out and suggested when he might best pop into the news?

And I never made the connection to the China talks. Thanks. It's such an interesting coincidence.

Right now I want a bunch of private contractors to explain to me how it happened, and how they will make sure it never happens again. And I think I want them to post a bond. Just the problems with his resume tell me they aren't taking American national security seriously.

they might as well just throw in the towel and call it a day.