Pentagon invites China to Naval Exercise

Hong Kong’s decision to allow Edward Snowden to board a flight to Russia “unquestionably has a negative impact on the U.S.-China relationship,” the White House said Monday.

 

White House press secretary Jay Carney offered a blistering statement at his press briefing, saying the U.S. didn’t believe Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous government allowed the man accused of leaking national security secrets to the media on a technicality.

 

“We see this as a setback in terms of their efforts to build mutual trust and our concerns are pretty clearly stated,” Carney said

 

Carney said officials in Hong Kong had “plenty of time” to resolve questions about the warrant for Snowden's arrest, calling the decision to let him go a “deliberate choice.”

 

U.S. authorities are “just not buying that this was a technical decision,” he said.

 

The decision to allow Snowden to leave was "particularly troubling" because Chinese authorities raised no technical red flags about the initial extradition request, Carney said.

 

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration...s#ixzz2X9q8TizW

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