Snowden is a political offender against the US, but what he is doing benefits the world. His actions test, rather than disturb, the bilateral ties.
Public opinion will turn against China's central government and the Hong Kong SAR government if they choose to send him back.

Snowden's exposure has upgraded our understanding of cyberspace, especially cyber attacks from the US, which is probably a much sharper weapon than its traditional military force. This weapon has demonstrated the US' hypocrisy and arrogance. Besides Snowden's disclosure, it is still unknown what else the US, a country which once condemned China for cyber attacks, has done to China.

The US is accumulating all the advanced powers of the Internet to forge a state-level "fist" in order to launch cyber attacks on other countries. The unparalleled power of this "fist" is beyond our imagination, which should be an alarm bell for us to catch up with the development of the Internet. Our focus should be fixed on grasping the core technology of the Internet industry in the future.

Snowden is a "card" that China never expected. But China is neither adept at nor used to playing it. China should make sure that Hong Kong is not the last place where other "Snowdens" want to go. At the very least, Hong Kong should be an acceptable destination for them.