50% Chinese public does not back Snowden's extradition: Global Times

[PeterCriss]

50% Chinese public does not back Snowden's extradition: Global Times
Staff Reporter 2013-06-22 09:55

Edward Snowden. (Photo/CFP)

A Chinese poll showed around half of member of public in China said Hong Kong government should not extradite Edward Snowden, an ex-CIA whistleblower who revealed the US government's massive phone and internet surveillance program, according to our Chinese-language sister newspaper Want Daily.

Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid, phoned around 1,400 members of public aged above 18 in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chendu, Xi'an, Changsha and Shenyang to seek people's opinions on Snowden.

The 29-year-old Snowden, a former CIA employee, fled to Hong Kong on May 20 after leaking documents detailing a far-reaching internet and phone surveillance program operated by the US government, called Prism.

"I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality," Snowden told the local South China Morning Post last week, adding that he intends for the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide his fate. "I have been given no reason to doubt your system," he said.

Around 55.1% of those polled by the Global Times said they did not want Hong Kong government to extradite Snowden back to the United States, and only 22.1% said otherwise.

Seventy percent of the 771 participants that did not back the extradition said they wanted the former CIA contractor to reveal more secrets that highlight the fact that the US has a double standard on internet control. Around 55.3% said they hoped Snowden would spit out more US secret surveillance data and infiltration on internets around the world.

The poll suggested that the Chinese public has been mulling the issue of internet security and their personal safety on the internet. They were also unnerved by the US dominant attitude toward internet, said Jin Canrong. Professor and associate dean at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China.