Edward Snowden’s claims that US hacking activities are targeting Hong Kong and mainland China have left the city split on whether to demand clarification from Washington.
Civil Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit said the American whistle-blower had raised a serious allegation and believed Hong Kong should take the issue up with US President Barack Obama, while Executive Council member Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said the government “could not act just on hearsay”.
It seems a bit naive for the government to act just on hearsay
Leong, also a senior counsel, said the claims might suggest Hongkongers’ communications by phone, internet and other electronic devices might have been compromised by hacking from the US government.
“The Hong Kong government should take the issue up and ask Obama whether it has been the case. It is the least it should do at the moment,” he said on Thursday, after Snowden told the Post that the US had been hacking networks in Hong Kong and on the mainland since 2009.
But Ip, also a former secretary for security, said: “It seems a bit naive for the government to act just on hearsay.”
However she also said she was not surprised by Snowden’s allegations about the reach of US National Security Agency’s surveillance programme.
