Hong Kong's political foes made allies amid Edward Snowden storm

While Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying tried desperately to keep his views on the Edward Snowden case to himself, it seemed everyone else in Hong Kong had something to say.

Snowden's arrival in the city gave Hong Kong a rare place in the global geopolitical spotlight and ushered in near-unprecedented political solidarity as pan-democrats and Beijing loyalists lined up to take a shot at an unlikely target: the United States.

Although he never appeared in public, the 30-year-old former CIA technician and National Security Agency contractor immediately became a household name after The Guardian revealed his name and the fact he had fled to the city on May 20.

All eyes were on how Leung's administration, with its limited diplomatic experience, would handle the tricky situation and whether Beijing would intervene. Snowden's revelation to the South China Morning Post that the NSA had targets in Hong Kong and on the mainland stirred further debate.

"My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate. I have been given no reason to doubt your system," he said, a dictum he abandoned as he slipped out of the city yesterday morning.

"He [Snowden] made full use of Hong Kong to spill his secrets during his month-long stay. There are a lot of media here. There are many consulates. He plays his cards very well," said Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the New People's Party lawmaker and former security chief who has faced scores of questions on Snowden.