Washington does not owe anyone an apology over espionage allegations made by whistle-blower Edward Snowden, the outgoing US consul in Hong Kong was quoted as saying by news reports.
Many of Snowden's allegations "were seen to be rather self-serving, to gain sympathy for him in the places he had been working," Stephen Young told journalists at Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club on Thursday, according to The Standard newspaper.
"But I don't think we owe an apology to anyone, because I think the real root of the problem is we have somebody who violated his trust to the United States and chose Hong Kong as a place to demonstrate that."
Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency, flew to Hong Kong in May and leaked information about US programmes for monitoring electronic communication. He claimed that Washington conducted widespread hacking and spying activities against China.
He then flew to Moscow and is currently holed up in the transit area of Sheremetyevo International Airport while he seeks temporary asylum in Russia, according to reports.
He has said he would like to travel to Latin America, where Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia have offered him asylum.
US does not owe any apologies over hacking claims
Washington does not owe anyone an apology over espionage allegations made by whistle-blower Edward Snowden, the outgoing US consul in Hong Kong was quoted as saying by news reports.
Many of Snowden's allegations "were seen to be rather self-serving, to gain sympathy for him in the places he had been working," Stephen Young told journalists at Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club on Thursday, according to The Standard newspaper.
"But I don't think we owe an apology to anyone, because I think the real root of the problem is we have somebody who violated his trust to the United States and chose Hong Kong as a place to demonstrate that."
Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency, flew to Hong Kong in May and leaked information about US programmes for monitoring electronic communication. He claimed that Washington conducted widespread hacking and spying activities against China.
He then flew to Moscow and is currently holed up in the transit area of Sheremetyevo International Airport while he seeks temporary asylum in Russia, according to reports.
He has said he would like to travel to Latin America, where Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia have offered him asylum.
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