The official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party railed against the U.S. government’s accusation that the Chinese government compelled Hong Kong to let National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden flee to Russia in a front-page commentary published Tuesday, according to the Guardian.
“Not only did the US authorities not give us an explanation and apology, it instead expressed dissatisfaction at the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for handling things in accordance with law,” said the overseas edition of China’s People’s Daily, as quoted by the Guardian.
The commentary also expressed concern over Snowden’s allegations that the U.S. had hacked computer networks in China.
“In a sense, the United States has gone from a ‘model of human rights’ to ‘an eavesdropper on personal privacy’, the ‘manipulator’ of the centralized power over the international Internet, and the mad ‘invader’ of other countries’ networks,” the piece read.
“The world will remember Edward Snowden,” the op-ed continued. “It was his fearlessness that tore off Washington’s sanctimonious mask.”
