WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has called US President Barack Obama's announcement of plans to limit sweeping US government surveillance programs a victory of sorts for fugitive former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.

"Today, the president of the United States validated Edward Snowden's role as a whistleblower by announcing plans to reform America's global surveillance program," Assange said in a statement referring to Obama's announcement on Friday.

"Today was a victory of sorts for Edward Snowden and his many supporters," Assange said in the statement, which was posted on the WikiLeaks website on Saturday.

"As Snowden has stated, his biggest concern was if he blew the whistle and change did not occur. Well reforms are taking shape, and for that, the president and people of the US and around the world owe Edward Snowden a debt of gratitude."

Assange, who has been holed up at the Ecuadorean embassy in London for more than a year, fearing extradition to the US for publishing classified US documents, rejected Obama's assertion that his reforms were planned before Snowden's disclosures about US surveillance activities.

"The simple fact is that without Snowden's disclosures, no one would know about the programs and no reforms could take place," he said.

Assange accused the US government of "stunning" hypocrisy in its treatment of Snowden while it gave asylum to thousands of dissidents, whistle-blowers and political refugees from countries such as Russia.

Spying targets EU

The Obama administration has vigorously pursued Snowden to bring him back to the US to face espionage charges for leaking details of US surveillance programs to the media.

Snowden granted temporary asylum in Russia earlier this month, a move that so angered Obama that he canceled an upcoming high-profile meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, the European Union is ranked as a key priority in a list of spying targets for the US National Security Agency, German weekly Der Spiegel said on Saturday, citing a document leaked by Snowden.

The classified document, dated April 2013, states that the US secret services are especially interested in gathering intelligence concerning the 28-member bloc's foreign policy, international trade, and economic stability, the magazine reported.

Using a ranking system from one to five (from high to low importance), those three areas were given a number three ranking, according to the document seen by Der Spiegel. Topics related to new technology and energy security were assigned the lowest-level priority.

Among individual countries, Washington reportedly listed China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea among its top surveillance targets.

Germany, France and Japan were considered of midlevel interest, the weekly added.

Reuters - AFP

(China Daily 08/12/2013 page11)