USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    Home / World

    Whistle-blower seeking asylum

    By Cheng Guangjin in Beijing and Zhang Chunyan in London | China Daily | Updated: 2013-06-20 07:39

    Snowden looks to Iceland as US says surveillance foils terror plots

    US National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden sought asylum in Iceland as Washington continued to defend its surveillance programs, saying they have disrupted dozens of terrorist plots.

    A US spy chief said on Tuesday that secret surveillance has foiled more than 50 terror plots since 2001, including a planned bomb attack on the New York Stock Exchange, Agence France-Presse reported.

    With Snowden's disclosures causing heated debate over public security and privacy, a poll on Tuesday indicated that most US citizens think he should be prosecuted.

    Observers said although most Americans think the surveillance is understandable due to national security concerns, the revelations have dealt a heavy blow to US President Barack Obama's administration, which has vowed to make changes to the policies of the previous government.

    Snowden, a former employee of government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who worked at a National Security Agency facility in Hawaii, made international headlines after exposing the US government's secret surveillance programs to the media and fleeing to Hong Kong.

    Iceland was approached informally by an intermediary who said Snowden was asking for asylum there, but it declined to say whether it would grant his wish, Reuters reported.

    Iceland has no extradition treaty with the US, and could be a possible choice for Snowden, said Wang Honggang, assistant director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

    Respondents to the poll, conducted by USA Today and the Pew Research Center, were divided over whether they approve of the surveillance programs.

    Obama defended the programs in an interview shown on Monday, and rejected comparisons with former president George W. Bush.

    "The revelations have damaged Obama's image," Wang said.

    He said that some US politicians have called Snowden a spy for the Chinese government out of concern for US domestic politics and with the aim of demonizing Snowden.

    "At government level, the two countries are trying to prevent this single case from jeopardizing their overall relations. But it is a fact that China and the US have deep contradictions over cybersecurity, which need to be handled carefully," Wang said.

    Professor Peter Ferdinand, an expert in comparative governance in East and Southeast Asia at Warwick University in Britain, said: "Obviously, it does make for a problem about cooperation between the US and some other countries. ...

    "Clearly, the idea that American companies, not just in the United States but also operating abroad, may also have been pressured by the US government into giving information about users of services is going to make governments elsewhere more nervous and cautious about how they deal with those companies in the future."

    Robin Niblett, director of the Chatham House independent policy institute in London and an expert on US-European foreign policy, said he understands why Snowden exposed the telecoms program concerning privacy rights for citizens, but the fact he has gone public about foreign intelligence collections is a "betrayal of his job".

    Contact the writers at chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn

    (China Daily 06/20/2013 page12)

    Today's Top News

    Editor's picks

    Most Viewed

    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    日韩经典精品无码一区| 日韩国产精品无码一区二区三区| 免费无码中文字幕A级毛片| 精品久久久久久中文字幕人妻最新| 精品无码AV无码免费专区| 无码精品A∨在线观看十八禁 | 亚洲日本中文字幕| 无码国模国产在线无码精品国产自在久国产 | 中文无码一区二区不卡αv| 亚洲AV无码乱码国产麻豆| 中文无码熟妇人妻AV在线| 人妻少妇精品视中文字幕国语| 久久亚洲AV无码西西人体| 精品无码一区二区三区爱欲| 亚洲午夜国产精品无码| 亚洲精品97久久中文字幕无码| 亚洲精品成人无码中文毛片不卡 | 人妻无码αv中文字幕久久| 国内精品无码一区二区三区| 中文字幕在线观看| 欧美日韩中文字幕2020| 久クク成人精品中文字幕| 在线观看免费无码视频| 少妇极品熟妇人妻无码| 成人无码区在线观看| 国产日韩精品无码区免费专区国产 | 免费无码专区毛片高潮喷水| 国产∨亚洲V天堂无码久久久| 无码午夜成人1000部免费视频| 亚洲V无码一区二区三区四区观看 亚洲爆乳精品无码一区二区三区 亚洲爆乳无码一区二区三区 | 一级片无码中文字幕乱伦 | 久久受www免费人成_看片中文| 亚洲AV无码AV男人的天堂不卡| 久久精品无码免费不卡| 免费A级毛片无码无遮挡| 五月婷婷无码观看| 在线综合亚洲中文精品| av区无码字幕中文色| 久久精品?ⅴ无码中文字幕| 无码av中文一二三区| 精品亚洲成在人线AV无码|