Maybe Hong Kong is simply relieved to be rid of Snowden

[ProSense]

Hong Kong-U.S. relations likely to suffer from Edward Snowden saga

The city and the nation have walked away from the Snowden cybersnooping episode relatively unscathed, but Washington will not be happy

Niall Fraser

Two of the most tumultuous weeks in Hong Kong's recent political history drew to a close last night when US whistle-blower Edward Snowden's plane from Chek Lap Kok airport touched down in Moscow...the ramifications of the city's brief yet hugely public flirtation with the realities of super-power espionage will be deep and long lasting.

<...>

Professor Simon Young Ngai-man, director of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong, was clearly taken aback..."It's a shocker. I thought he was going to stay and fight it out. The US government will be irate with their Hong Kong counterparts and may even question whether Hong Kong was acting in good faith pursuant to their treaty obligations. I have no doubt that they were and it is quite common for government lawyers to seek more information on surrender or mutual legal assistance requests before the local process can begin. But I'm surprised here."

Jin Canrong , the mainland's leading foreign relations scholar and associate dean of Renmin University's School of International Relations, said Snowden's departure was ideal for Beijing.

"A time bomb that could threaten the Sino-US relationship has been defused, even though the saga will go on and Snowden can still make more revelations. The strategy Beijing has been using in dealing with the case was to let Hong Kong handle it independently and keep a distance from it. I believe Beijing would not proactively take advantage of the intelligence Snowden revealed, because that would provoke Washington and rub salt into its wounds.

- more -

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1267572/hong-kong-us-relations-likely-suffer-edward-snowden-saga

Privately, U.S. officials say they believe Beijing authorities made the call to allow Snowden to leave. In doing so, the Chinese may have simply been passing along a "hot potato," that could have grown into a diplomatic spat.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/23/us-usa-security-obama-analysis-idUSBRE95M0HL20130623

For all we know this was simply a face-saving move, and no has any idea who made the deal.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. ...or relieved that the wreck of the RMS Queen Elizabeth has been buried for good.

[ProSense]

2. Kick! n/t

[BeyondGeography]

3. Beijing's call, definitely

HK's Chief Executive doesn't do anything more significant than blow his nose without their permission.

[Skidmore]

4. We were discussing this over move over the Sunday meal.

My husband said something to that effect and pointed out that the Hong Kong-China pseudo split facade could not be maintained should Snowden stay. Hong Kong is part of China. Period. It's a business district allowed to masquerade as a city-state.

[cali]

5. Maybe. Maybe they're relieved and they liked poking the U.S.

who knows? But in any case, no extradition from HK. There won't be an extradition from Russia or Ecuador or Venezuela.

No prosecution on the horizon.'

[ProSense]

6. "There won't be an extradition from Russia or Ecuador or Venezuela. "

Is he planning on fleeing those countries too?

[magical thyme]

7. his stay in the Russian airport is temporary

he will go where he is invited and won't be extradited. They're probably leaking various possible locations to keep us all guessing. No point in telling the US exactly which airport his plane is headed for. We'll find out soon enough where he finds his safe haven.