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How do you make the jump from leaking the existence of a massive secret surveillance network within the US to him being a spy?? What reason would a spy have to share this info with the public?? Sounds like FUD to me...

This is the smear they're running already - have seen him referred to as a "Chinese spy" a couple of times already. I'm sure they'll get Greenwald on charges of being his cohort for China.

Diplomatic incident ahoy!

Spying 101: don't go public.

If he was spying, then why Hong Kong, and why not Beijing directly?

Beijing woud look incredibly suspicious wouldn't it? It would be hard to buy the "strong freedom of speech tradition" story.

Why not? They're both in the sovereign territory of China.

Protection, balanced with plausible deniability.

Once you're protected, there's no more need for denying.

I mean deniability for the Chinese : Hong Kong is independent enough that they can claim powerlessness to their American partners, but they are the elephant in the room and can ensure that they keep actual control of the situation.