It's apparently not because what Snowden did matches their core values, or they want the same thing happen in China. Oh yes, they certainly like Snowden. It's because Snowden exposed some bad things done by US authorities, and they can use this as political tool; furthermore they can finally take this and say to Chinese people, hey, US does this too. You like the freedom in US? That's all bullshit.

If you are interested in what their reactions were when this kind of thing happened in China, back in 2010, this [1] (google translate: [2]) was xinhuanet's opinion on Chinese human rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Liu Xiaobo [3]. They described Liu Xiaobo as an evil man used by western countries to attack Chinese government, while the truth is Liu Xiaobo spent years striving for Chinese people's freedom, human rights, and constitution enforcement in China.

Xinhuanet basically writes what the government tells them to write, and say what the government tells them to say.

[1] http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-10/15/c_12664760.htm

[2] http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http:...

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo#Nobel_Peace_Prize

EDIT: typos

Writes someone from the other side of the Great Firewall.

"For this reason China, despite the fact that it does not have a good reputation as far as Internet governance is concerned, should move boldly and grant Snowden asylum."

If this is official government propaganda, why are they saying China doesn't have a good reputation?

The article also calls for Google to withdraw from the United States on the same grounds it withdrew from China - hacking of Gmail and state surveillance.

I thought the official Xinhua editorial would be interesting to an HN audience.

Actually, this New Yorker article is better.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5885327

Evan Osnos, a top journalist in Beijing.

"Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn."

Oh, you're a whistleblower against any Chinese policy? Say goodbye to your freedom and count yourself lucky if you don't end up in a stadium with a bullet in your head.

It is not too difficult to find less biased coverage - my favorite technique is to take a story I am interested in and then read two or three articles about it from different countries.

The boy is hella smart.