Relations between Hong Kong and the United States took a big hit with the Edward Snowden saga, and while they appear to have warmed since then, the long-term impact is harder to assess. <\/p>\n
The ramifications of the city's brief encounter with the realities of superpower espionage had an immediate effect on the city he chose as his first \"safe harbour\". <\/p>\n
Attempts by Washington to have Snowden extradited sparked street demonstrations in support of the former NSA contractor, and the public generally seemed to back the young American's crusade. <\/p>\n
We will probably never know if Hong Kong's Justice Department was just being scrupulous or was practising a diplomatic sleight of hand conceived in Beijing when it rejected Washington's request for Snowden's arrest. But we do know the events of a year ago this month allowed the city and the nation to walk away relatively unscathed. <\/p>\n
\"We know that when Snowden left, Hong Kong-US relations were probably at an all-time low,\" said Simon Young, barrister and law professor at the University of Hong Kong. <\/p>\n
\"There are no obvious signs that relations have been restored or warmed much in the past year, especially with Chinese-backed criticisms of US intervention in Hong Kong's political reform process.\" <\/p>\n
The US knows [we] will not necessarily bend over backwards to assist <\/p>\n
HKU LAW PROFESSOR SIMON YOUNG <\/p>\n
A few days after Snowden broke cover in Hong Kong via a 12-minute video on The Guardian website on June 10, justice officials in the US asked Hong Kong to detain him. <\/p>\n
But when the US failed to get their man, a war of words broke out between Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung and the US Attorney General Eric Holder, prompting Yuen to release details of the events leading up to Snowden's departure. <\/p>\n
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