HONG KONG - Hong Kong was silent Saturday on whether a former National Security Agency contractor should be extradited to the United States now that he has been charged with espionage, but some local legislators said the Chinese government should decide.
Edward Snowden, believed to be holed up in Hong Kong, has admitted providing information to the news media about two classified National Security Agency surveillance programs.
National Security Council spokesman Caitlin Hayden said Saturday that U.S. officials have contacted authorities in Hong Kong for Snowden’s extradition, and President Barack Obama’s administration sharply warned Hong Kong against slow-walking on the matter.
“Hong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case,” White House national security adviser Tom Donilon said in an interview with CBS News.
He said the U.S. presented Hong Kong with a “good case for extradition.”
However, a senior administration official issued a pointed warning that if Hong Kong doesn’t act soon, “it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong’s commitment to the rule of law.”
The official was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and insisted on anonymity.
The Hong Kong government had no immediate reaction to the charges against Snowden.
When China regained control of Hong Kong in 1997, theformer British colony was granted a high degree of autonomy and granted rights and freedoms not seen on mainland China.
However, under the city’s mini constitution, Beijing is allowed to intervene in matters involving defense and diplomatic affairs.
Legislator Leung Kwokhung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system. Leung also urged the people of Hong Kong to “take to the streets to protect Snowden.”
Another legislator, Cyd Ho, vice chairman of the pro-democracy Labor Party, said China “should now make its stance clear to the Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region] government” before the case goes to court.
China has urged the U.S. to provide explanations after the disclosures of National Security Agency programs that collect millions of telephone records and track foreign Internet activity on U.S. networks, but it has not commented on Snowden’s status in Hong Kong.
Another disclosure came late Saturday when the South China Morning Post reported on its website that Snowden claimed the National Security Agency hacked Chinese cellphone companies to steal SMS data. The newspaper also said, without citing any source, that Snowden was “safe” in Hong Kong and not in police custody.
Snowden claimed to havesupporting documents of the text-message hacking, the paper said, though its report did not explain his purported evidence. He spoke to the paper in a June 12 interview.
The extradition request to Hong Kong could drag through appeal courts for years and would pit Beijing against Washington at a time when China is trying to deflect U.S. accusations that it carries out extensive surveillance on American government and commercial operations.
Snowden told the Morning Post that he hoped to stay in the autonomous region of China because he has faith in “the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate.”
The criminal complaint unsealed Friday in a U.S. federal court purported Snowden engaged in two violations of the Espionage Act and committed theft of government property.All three crimes carry a maximum 10-year prison term.
Snowden could contest his extradition on grounds of political persecution.
Hong Kong lawyer Mark Sutherland said that the filing of a refugee, torture or inhuman punishment claim acts as an automatic bar on any extradition proceedings until those claims can be assessed.
“Some asylum seekers came to Hong Kong 10 years ago and still haven’t had their protection claims assessed,” Sutherland said.
Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 9 on 06/23/2013