Snowden’s Chinese Fans

[struggle4progress]

June 13, 2013
Posted by Evan Osnos

... Edward Snowden .. is embarking on his own diplomacy ... greeting his new hosts, appealing to Hong Kong to treat him fairly, and offering a sample of his knowledge of U.S. hacking against Chinese targets ...

Offering details about America’s cyber strategy on China may not help him much in American public opinion, but it already has in China. After initially attracting muted attention during a Chinese holiday earlier this week, by Thursday, his case was major news, and Snowden was a popular man here. Mo Shucao flagged me to an online survey that found that seventy-eight per cent of respondents regarded Snowden as a freedom fighter who protects civil liberties. As for how the Chinese government should handle the case, eighty-one per cent supported giving Snowden asylum either to protect him or extract more of the intelligence he is able to leak ...

... In China, the nationalist end of the press corps signaled its support for using Snowden’s status as a chip in negotiations ...

The image of Snowden and Chinese intelligence as a congenial match is hard to picture. He has talked about the “consent of the governed.” He has said, “I believe in freedom of expression,” and, “It is only right that the public form its own opinion.” These statements are not going to endear him to Chinese authorities ...

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2013/06/snowdens-chinese-fans.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Hong Kong wants answers on Snowden's hacking claims

Jun. 13, 2013 10:36 AM |

... Two political parties staged separate protests at the U.S. Consulate on Thursday, with the New Forum demonstrating against the alleged U.S. hacking in Hong Kong and China and the League of Social Democrats voicing support for Edward Snowden ...

Civil Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit said Edward Snowden has raised a serious allegation and that Hong Kong should take the issue up with President Obama ...

Hong Kong legislator James To told a local newspaper he was considering inviting Snowden to testify to the Legislative Council on cybersecurity and U.S. hacking activities ...

"I have always said, the United States' accusations about Chinese hacking attacks have always been a case of a thief crying for another thief to be caught," said Air Force Col. Dai Xu on his microblog site.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/usatoday/article/2418755

[struggle4progress]

2. US leaker Snowden both boon and burden for China

13 June 2013
Last updated at 11:50 ET
Damian Grammaticas

... US President Barack Obama was sitting down to tell Chinese leader Xi Jinping that US patience had run out and China had to rein in its cyber-spies, just as Edward Snowden's claims that America 's National Security Agency had been collecting vast amounts of information about internet users around the world were gaining attention ...

The China Daily on Thursday said "the massive US global surveillance programme... is certain to stain Washington's overseas image and test developing Sino-US ties".

It quoted Li Haidong, a researcher at the China Foreign Affairs University, who said that "for months Washington has been accusing China of cyber-espionage, but it turns out that the biggest threat to the pursuit of individual freedom and privacy in the US is the unbridled power of the government" ...

In an editorial, Hong Kong's independent Apple Daily wrote that "no matter how China's cyber-50 Cent Party praises Snowden for betraying the Central Intelligence Agency and how they drag the US down with mud-slinging tactics, it can neither change the fact that China is abusing cyber-monitoring to violate human rights and serve a one-party dictatorship, nor build up theoretical grounds for China to continue to abuse cyber-monitoring without any checks and balances whatsoever ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22893958

[wandy]

3. I'm really having a hard time understand this, is there anything I'm missing?......

So Snowden has a bitch with the gubbernment. OK, have a few of them myself.
Snowdens bitch has a lot to do with the rights of civilians.
Last I knew Hong Kong was, more or less under the control of The Republic of China.
The Republic of China is one of those 'commie' gubermnents. No?
Communist governments aren't particularly keen on civilian rights. Or did something change?

I think that if I were that ticked off I would have found somewhere else to go shooting my mouth off.
No communist country would have been considered.

[emulatorloo]

4. I think there may be some "Libertarian Logic" involved.

They often say/do things that make sense to them, but not to the rest of us.

[wandy]

5. It's a darnned strange mindset, that's for sure. Think Rand Paul.........

"Don't tread on me"!
But it's OK for me to keep hired thugs to tread on reporters, or anyone els's for that matter, necks.

This has nothing to do with governance.
It's spoiled brat selfishness, pure and simple.

The type of thinking that might lead someone to believe that they are always right.
The type of thinking that may lead people to seek the aid of the very worst people to aid the advancement of their 'cause'.