(Reuters) – A potential extradition tussle in Hong Kong over an American who has exposed the U.S. government’s top-secret surveillance programs could prove to be a test case for civil liberties in the financial hub controlled by China.
Edward Snowden, 29, a contractor at the National Security Agency (NSA), chose Hong Kong as the international bolt-hole from where to leak details of the programs, endorsing the city for its “spirited commitment to free speech and the right to political dissent”.
Since the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule in 1997, however, the city’s pro-democracy politicians and activists have complained that Beijing has been steadily eroding Hong Kong’s freedoms despite constitutional safeguards granting a high degree of autonomy.
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James Pomfret and Grace Li, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/g2evbInX6Qs/
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