Why snowden went to hong kong

Hong Kong has about 11, registered asylum seekers—and several thousand more who are unregistered. By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy.

Skip to navigation Skip to content. Discover Membership. Editions Quartz. More from Quartz About Quartz. Follow Quartz. These are some of our most ambitious editorial projects. Again, Mr Man accompanied him.

Together, they went to the airport. Mr Ho said Mr Snowden was uncharacteristically nervous on that journey. Mr Man watched as Mr Snowden checked in and walked through airport security like any other passenger. Mr Ho now believes the message delivered to Mr Snowden asking him to leave came from the Beijing government. Mr Ho, a pro-democracy lawmaker who was a candidate for chief executive last year, says a long extradition hearing in Hong Kong would have damaged Sino-US relations and embarrassed China.

But at the same time, it was in Beijing's interest to ensure Mr Snowden remained a free man, still able to leak US government secrets. Edward Snowden had fled to Hong Kong when he revealed himself to be behind the leak of classified US intelligence documents. The White House said Hong Kong made "a deliberate choice Snowden get away and had done anything to obstruct normal operations is totally untrue.

Snowden — who gave Hong Kong and China documents detailing how NSA hackers systematically targeted computers and civilian targets in the country over a four-year period — flew to Moscow this week before booking but not boarding a Monday flight to Cuba. The U. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation.