A senior pro-Beijing lawmaker today said that US whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is believed to be holed up in Hong Kong after leaking details of a massive secret Internet surveillance programme, should leave the city.
Regina Ip, formerly the city's top official overseeing security, told reporters the city's administration was "obliged to comply with the terms of agreements" with the US government, which included the extradition of fugitives.
"It's actually in his best interest to leave Hong Kong," she said, adding that she did not know whether the government had yet received an extradition request. "I doubt it will happen so quickly," she said.
Snowden, whose exact location is unknown, revealed that he was in the southern Chinese city in an interview with the Guardian newspaper released yesterday, noting his choice of Hong Kong was due to its "strong tradition of free speech".
The US and Hong Kong signed an extradition treaty in 1996, a year before the city was handed over from British to Chinese control, under which both parties agreed to hand over fugitive offenders.
But any US attempt to repatriate Snowden will be a complicated process, with Beijing able to veto extraditions which involve the "defence, foreign affairs or essential public interest or policy" of China.
