The South China Morning Post has confirmed that the world’s most famous leaker has not made any big moves. The paper says he’s in a “safe place” in Hong Kong, where he has been neither detained nor placed under police protection. That might not last for long, however, as the United States finally charged him with espionage and other things on Friday. Whether or not he’s planning to hop on that WikiLeaks flight to Iceland is unclear, but the SCMP also published some more Snowden-provided details on the United States’ spying activities in China, which might mean that he’s still hoping that the Chinese will decide against extraditing him. Update: White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told CBS News that the U.S. has asked Hong Kong to send Snowden back, and that he expects them to do so. “We believe that the charges presented, present a good case for extradition under the treaty, the extradition treaty between the United States and Hong Kong,” he said. “Hong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case.” Another unnamed official said a failure to extradite Snowden would “complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong’s commitment to the rule of law.”
