China has warned the United States against meddling in Hong Kong’s internal affairs after Vice President Joe Biden met with two former Hong Kong legislators

China tells US not to meddle in Hong Kong's internal affairs

Published time: April 07, 2014 19:47

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.(Reuters / Ints Kalnins)

China has warned the United States against meddling in Hong Kong’s internal affairs after Vice President Joe Biden met with two former Hong Kong legislators who expressed concern that Beijing is tightening control over the territory.
Biden met with Anson Chan, former chief secretary and founder of pro-democracy group Hong Kong 2020, and Martin Lee – founder of Hong Kong's opposition Democratic Party – at the White House on Friday.
During the meeting, the activists spoke out against whey they described as Beijing’s increasing control over Hong Kong. They also said they fear that only candidates picked by the central government will be allowed to take part in the 2017 chief executive vote. Lee and Chan also voiced concerns over press freedom in Hong Kong - referring to violent assaults on journalists and alleging that Beijing is pressuring advertisers to shun critical media, AFP reported.
Vice President Biden underscored Washington’s “long-standing support for democracy in Hong Kong and for the city’s high degree of autonomy under the 'one country, two systems' framework,” the White House said in a statement.

PHOTO: The Vice President drops by a meeting with Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates Martin Lee and Anson Chan. pic.twitter.com/5HXNqSMGWp
— Office of VP Biden (@VP) April 4, 2014

In response, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it “firmly opposes any countries meddling in the city's internal affairs in any way,” South China Morning Post quoted.
“Hong Kong affairs are China's internal affairs,” said a spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong.
The official added that Hong Kong is currently going through a sensitive political reform period.
“[We] would hope the US would be cautious of their words and actions regarding Hong Kong affairs and not let Hong Kong issues impede Sino-American relations,” he noted.

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On Defensive, JPMorgan Hired China’s Elite

By BEN PROTESS and JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG

Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times JPMorgan Chase’s offices in Hong Kong. The bank and its rivals have hired well-connected employees in China.

In a series of late-night emails, JPMorgan Chase executives in Hong Kong lamented the loss of a lucrative assignment.
“We lost a deal to DB today because they got chairman’s daughter work for them this summer,” one JPMorgan investment banking executive remarked to colleagues, using the initials for Deutsche Bank.
The loss of that business in 2009, coming after rival banks landed a string of other deals, stung the JPMorgan executives. For Wall Street banks enduring slowdowns in the wake of the financial crisis, China was the last great gold rush. As its economy boomed, China’s state-owned enterprises were using banks to raise billions of dollars in stock and debt offerings — yet JPMorgan was falling further behind in capturing that business.
The solution, the executives decided over email, was to embrace the strategy that seemed to work so well for rivals: hire the children of China’s ruling elite.
“I am supportive to have our own” hiring strategy, a JPMorgan executive wrote in the 2009 email exchange.
In the months and years that followed, emails and other confidential documents show, JPMorgan escalated what it called its “Sons and Daughters” hiring program, adding scores of well-connected employees and tracking how those hires translated into business deals with the Chinese government. The previously unreported emails and documents — copies of which were reviewed by The New York Times — offer a view into JPMorgan’s motivations for ramping up the hiring program, suggesting that competitive pressures drove many of the bank’s decisions that are now under federal investigation.
The references to other banks in the emails also paint for the first time a broad picture of questionable hiring practices by other Wall Street banks doing business in China — some of them hiring the same employees with family connections. Since opening a bribery investigation into JPMorgan this spring, the authorities have expanded the inquiry to include hiring at other big banks. Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have previously been identified as coming under scrutiny. A sixth bank, UBS, is also facing scrutiny, according to interviews with current and former Wall Street employees. Neither JPMorgan nor any of the other banks have been accused of wrongdoing.
Still, the investigations have put Wall Street on high alert, said the current and former employees, who were not authorized to speak publicly. Some banks, they said, have adopted an unofficial hiring freeze for well-connected job candidates in China.
The investigation has also had a chilling effect on JPMorgan’s deal-making in China, interviews show. The bank, seeking to build good will with federal authorities, has considered forgoing certain deals in China and abandoned one assignment altogether.
The pullback comes just as JPMorgan had regained a significant share of the Chinese market. Its deal-making revived a few years after it escalated the Sons and Daughters program in 2009, an analysis of data from Thomson Reuters shows. In 2009, JPMorgan was 13th among banks winning business in China and Hong Kong. By 2013, once other banks had scaled back their Chinese business, it had climbed to No. 3. Other data shows that the bank was eighth in 2009 and — after losing market share in 2011 and 2012 — is now No. 4 in deal-making. While the hiring boom coincided with the increased business, the data does not establish a causal link between the two.
Yet the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, which are leading the JPMorgan inquiry, are examining whether the bank improperly won some of those deals by trading job offers for business with state-owned Chinese companies. The S.E.C. and the prosecutors, which might ultimately conclude that none of the hiring crossed a legal line, did not comment.
JPMorgan, which is cooperating with the investigation, also declined to comment. There is no indication that executives at the bank’s headquarters in New York were aware of the hiring practices. The six other banks facing scrutiny from the S.E.C. declined to comment on the investigations, which are at an early stage.
Economic forces fueled the hiring boom by Wall Street banks.
An era of financial deregulation in Washington coincided with a roaring economy in China, enabling questionable hiring practices to escape government scrutiny. The hiring became so widespread over the last two decades that banks competed over the most politically connected recent college graduates, known in China as princelings.
Goldman’s employee roster briefly included the grandson of the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin. And Feng Shaodong, the son-in-law of a high-ranking Communist Party official, worked with Merrill Lynch.
In recent months, though, federal authorities have adopted a tougher stance toward Wall Street firms suspected of trading jobs for government business. The S.E.C. and the Brooklyn prosecutors have bolstered enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which effectively bans United States corporations from giving “anything of value” to foreign officials to gain “any improper advantage” in retaining business. JPMorgan would have violated the 1977 law if it had acted with “corrupt” intent.

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Ecuador's president backpeddles as he reveals travel pass was granted 'without authorisation' and says whistleblower is now Russia's problem

Rafael Correa not considering Snowden asylum: 'we helped him by mistake'

• Rory Carroll in Quito
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 July 2013 21.44 EDT

Ecuador's president Rafael Correa said Snowden 'must be on Ecuadorean territory' to make an asylum request. Photograph: Martin Mejia/AP

Ecuador is not considering Edward Snowden's asylum request and never intended to facilitate his flight from Hong Kong, president Rafael Correa said as the whistleblower made a personal plea to Quito for his case to be heard.
Snowden was Russia's responsibility and would have to reach Ecuadorean territory before the country would consider any asylum request, the president said in an interview with the Guardian on Monday.
"Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It's not logical. The country that has to give him a safe conduct document is Russia."
The president, speaking at the presidential palace in Quito, said his government did not intentionally help Snowden travel from Hong Kong to Moscow with a temporary travel pass. "It was a mistake on our part," he added.
Asked if he thought the former NSA contractor would ever make it to Quito, he replied: "Mr Snowden's situation is very complicated, but in this moment he is in Russian territory and these are decisions for the Russian authorities."
On whether Correa would like to meet him, the president said: "Not particularly. He's a very complicated person. Strictly speaking, Mr Snowden spied for some time."
The comments contrasted with expressions of gratitude the 30-year-old fugitive issued hours later, before Correa's views had been published.
"I must express my deep respect for your principles and sincere thanks for your government's action in considering my request for political asylum," Snowden said, according to a letter written in Spanish and obtained by the Press Association news agency, based in London.
"There are few world leaders who would risk standing for the human rights of an individual against the most powerful government on earth, and the bravery of Ecuador and its people is an example to the world."
Snowden compared the silence of governments afraid of US retaliation with Ecuador's help in his flight to Moscow on 22 June. A temporary Ecuadorean travel document substituted for his cancelled US passport.
"The decisive action of your consul in London, Fidel Narvaez, guaranteed my rights would be protected upon departing Hong Kong – I could never have risked travel without that. Now, as a result, and through the continued support of your government, I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest."

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Edward Snowden Passport Revoked: Reports

By MATTHEW V. LEE 06/23/13 05:19 PM ET EDT

....

....

WASHINGTON — The former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed a highly classified surveillance program has had his U.S. passport revoked, an official said Sunday.
Edward Snowden's passport was annulled before he left Hong Kong for Russia and while that could complicate his travel plans, the lack of a passport alone could not thwart his plans, the U.S. official said. If a senior official in another country or with an airline orders it, a country could overlook the withdrawn passport, the official said.
The U.S. official would only discuss the passport on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Snowden's allies said he was heading toward Ecuador, where the foreign minister said the government had received a request for asylum.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki refused to comment on Snowden's passport specifically but said individuals facing arrest warrants could have their passport withdrawn.


Read  More  here 

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Snowden pardon petition passes 100,000 signatures

Edward Snowden

by NEDRA PICKLER / Associated Press

Posted on June 24, 2013 at 7:46 AM

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• Snowden not on flight to Cuba, whereabouts unclear

WASHINGTON  -- A petition asking President Barack Obama to pardon admitted state secret leaker Edward Snowden has passed 100,000 signatures.

The petition posted on Whitehouse.gov calls the former National Security Agency contractor a "national hero." It says he should immediately be pardoned for any crimes in "blowing the whistle" on classified government programs to collect phone records and online data.


Read More Here

Breaking: Edward Snowden Vanishes From His Hong Kong Hotel Room

Chris Carrington
The Daily Sheeple
June 11th, 2013

According to reports from the BBC, Edward Snowden has vanished from his Hong Kong hotel room. Ex-CIA employee Snowden, 29, was not expected to check out and the move has taken many by surprise. His whereabouts are unknown and thus far he has not made contact with anyone as to his plans.
Snowden who is on record as saying he had:

“an obligation to help free people from oppression”

He is being investigated regarding the leaks and the case has been referred to the Department of Justice as a criminal matter.
An online petition on the White House website has so far gotten 30,000 signatures calling for an immediate pardon for Snowden, though sadly, an opinion poll commissioned by the Washington Post reveals that the majority of American Citizens think that this kind of intrusive phone monitoring is acceptable if it is aimed at fighting terrorism.
The implications of Snowdens’ leaks have reverberated around the globe with similar allegations being leveled at GCHQ (Government Communication Headquarters) in the UK.
Before fleeing to Hong Kong Snowden said:

“The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. I don’t want to live in a society that does these sorts of things. I do not want to live in a world where everything I say and do is recorded…. We have seen enough criminality on behalf of the government, it is hypocritical to make this allegation against me.”

Hong Kong does have an extradition treaty with the US though a standard US visa lasts for 90 days, he is believed to have arrived in Hong Kong on May 20th.
He has recently said that he fears his actions could put him in jail and he is worried about his family and friends being sucked into the affair. His vanishing without warning from the Mira Hotel has concerned those close to him.
On Thursday, the Washington Post and Guardian said the NSA tapped directly into the servers of nine internet firms including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to track online communication in a program known as Prism.
All the internet companies deny giving the US government access to their servers.
Prism is said to give the NSA and FBI access to emails, web chats and other communications directly from the servers of major US internet companies.
Other major US Security Leaks

• Pentagon papers, 1971: Daniel Ellsberg leaks study showing the government had knowledge it was unlikely to win Vietnam war
• Watergate, 1972: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein reveal extent of cover-up over burglary at Democrat National Committee HQ
• Iran-Contra affair, 1986: Iranian cleric reveals illegal US arms sales to Iran, the proceeds of which are later used to fund Nicaraguan Contras
• Valerie Plame, 2003: Ms Plame is revealed to be an undercover CIA agent, ending her covert career
• Abu Ghraib, 2004: Publication of pictures showing abuse of detainees at Iraq prison by US officials turns initial media reports of abuse into full-blown scandal
• Bradley Manning, 2010: The soldier downloads thousands of classified documents from military servers and hands them over to Wikileaks

Delivered by The Daily Sheeple

Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!

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BBC

US spy leaker Edward Snowden leaves Hong Kong hotel

 

Beijing correspondent Damian Grammaticus says China would not want to deal with any extradition of Snowden to the US

An ex-CIA employee who leaked details of US top-secret phone and internet surveillance has disappeared from his hotel in Hong Kong.

Edward Snowden, 29, checked out from his hotel on Monday and his whereabouts are unknown, but he is believed to be still in Hong Kong.

Earlier, he said he had an "obligation to help free people from oppression".

His leaks led to revelations that the US is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.

The programme, known as Prism, is run by the US National Security Agency (NSA).

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence gave details of the programme last week after Mr Snowden's leaks led to a series of articles in the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers.

According to the office's statement, Prism is simply an internal computer system, and not a data-mining programme.

I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded”

Edward Snowden

• Profile: Edward Snowden
• Could Hong Kong shelter Snowden?
• Q&A: Prism and privacy

However, such data seizures could break the laws of other countries, and could also break US law if they accidentally capture communications of US citizens.

Transatlantic fallout
Hong Kong's broadcaster RTHK said Mr Snowden checked out of the Mira hotel in Kowloon on Monday, and Reuters news agency quoted hotel staff as saying that he had left at noon.

Ewen MacAskill, one of the Guardian journalists who broke the story, told the BBC he believed Mr Snowden was still in Hong Kong.

Rory Cellan-Jones reports on what is known about Prism

It is believed the US is pursuing a criminal investigation, but no extradition request has yet been filed.

The Chinese territory has an extradition treaty with the US, although analysts say any attempts to bring Mr Snowden to America may take months and could be blocked by Beijing.

A petition posted on the White House website calling for Mr Snowden's immediate pardon has gathered more than 30,000 signatures.

However, an opinion poll commissioned by the Washington Post suggests a majority of Americans think government monitoring of phone records is acceptable if the aim is to fight terrorism.

Mr Snowden's revelations have led to allegations that the UK's electronic surveillance agency, GCHQ, used the US system to spy on British citizens.

Read Full Article and  Watch Videos  Here

World media reaction

• The Liberation Daily in China has harsh words for President Obama: "Five years ago, Obama came to power waving an anti-George W Bush banner. Five years later, he is still exactly the same as George W Bush on invasion of privacy issues."
• Russia's Izvestiya compares the revelations to a dystopian novel: "The frightening reality of the 21st Century is that the world has become a house with glass walls, notions of 'personal secrets' and 'confidential information' are turning into fiction before our very eyes."
• India's Tribune is more forgiving: "The 9/11 terrorist attacks have changed the environment where cyber snooping is now defendable, even acceptable."

• World media fume

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Contributed by Chris Carrington of The Daily Sheeple.

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