10 reasons why Snowden has chosen to hide in Hong Kong from the NSA

As a native Hongkonger, perhaps I can add some insights into why Edward Snowden has chosen Hong Kong as his hiding place. Just in case you did not know, this gentleman is involved in this massive NSA scandal. Here are some possible reasons that I can think of. 

1. Prepaid phone cards: Hong Kong is one of the cities where you can buy prepaid phone cards without any identity check. You do not even need to call the phone company before start using a phone card, you can use it as soon as you pay for it. You can literally buy hundreds of prepaid phone cards without raising any suspicion in certain areas in Hong Kong (Apliu Street is the actual location, check it out in person!).

2. Wifi signal: being one of the most densely populated cities it means you can pick up wifi signals virtually EVERYWHERE. For Snowden, it also means he can use the internet to make a quick phone call, and use another wifi signal and make another phone call just by using the wifi signals of the others (internet security is not exactly common sense in Hong Kong). By doing that, it is more difficult to trace his where-about.

3. Language: you can still get by in Hong Kong using just English, most people speak a bit of English there. In fact, many of my English friends cannot even speak one sentence in Cantonese after having spent over a decade in Hong Kong.

4. The weird status of Hong Kong: we all know Hong Kong is part of China, but it also means Hong Kong does not have a foreign office – so extradition can be a tricky issue between the US and Hong Kong. However, the useless Chief Executive in Hong Kong does not have the gut to decide on anything, so it is really up to Beijing to make the call. If you do not believe, watch this interview with Bloomberg. You will think Rob Ford is the best politician in the entire universe afterwards. Watch the video here: No comment is NEVER your key message. 

5. Freedom of information (as of today): yes, you can use Facebook in Hong Kong even though it is part of China. Yes, you can get your subscription of the Financial Times REGARDLESS of the coverage. Hong Kong can be bearable as long as you do not read the Chinese media.

6. Not so corrupted yet: another fun fact about Hong Kong is that in general civil servants in Hong Kong are not corrupted because they are paid very well – the head of government in Hong Kong earns more than Obama, despite the size of the country and population is not even comparable to any one states. The conclusion is that these not-so-corrupted civil servants will not sell Snowden for the price of a new car.

7. Time difference: maybe Snowden wants his ex-colleagues from NSA to work 24 hours a day? Hong Kong is 12 hours ahead of DC!

8. Invisibility: there are too many Caucasians in Hong Kong. To an average Chinese, most Caucasians look the same (probably the same other way round, someone shouted “Go back to Japan” a while back), hence it is somewhat easy to remain invisible in this city.

9. “Let Hongkongers decide my fate”: come on Snowden, we cannot even decide our fate (if we could, I think we would hire a contract killer to get rid of the Chief Executive in the city first). If you expect us to decide your fate, then it will never happen – you can stay in Hong Kong until the end of time!

10. I can’t think of the 10th, thanks for reading!!!