The United States on Thursday told China it was disappointed it did not hand over US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden after he fled to Hong Kong
The United States on Thursday told China it was disappointed it did not hand over US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden after he fled to Hong Kong, saying that the decision had undermined relations.
President Barack Obama, meeting senior Chinese officials who were in Washington for annual wide-ranging talks, "expressed his disappointment and concern" over the Snowden case, the White House said in a statement.
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, one of the main US officials in the talks, said Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed at their summit last month at the California resort of Sunnylands to cooperate over problems.
"That is why we were very disappointed with how the authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong handled the Snowden case, which undermined our effort to build the trust needed to manage difficult issues," Burns said. "We have made clear that China's handling of this case was not consistent with the spirit of Sunnylands or with the type of relationship -- the new model -- that we both seek to build," Burns said at a joint press event.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi, speaking next to Burns, defended decisions on Snowden, whose allegations of US snooping in Chinese Internet networks caused a stir in Beijing. "The central government of China has always respected the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's handling of cases in accordance with the law," he said.
Hong Kong "handled the Snowden case in accordance with the law and its approach is beyond reproach", said Yang, a central figure in Chinese foreign policy. "The Americans are just trying to save face," said Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo, dismissing the rebuke from Washington as "diplomatic talk". "The Chinese didn't exactly invite Snowden to come to Hong Kong," Mo told AFP.
Earlier Thursday, Russia's Interfax news agency said the US had stopped pressing Russia to extradite Snowden, quoting a source close to the situation.
