You know another way to interpret Edward Snowden is just as a willing agent (or volunteer) for a somewhat despotic government.

The minute he said that Honk Kong has a dedication to privacy and freedom of speech he was either:
A) signalling that he knows how to be the flak for a despot, he knows how to lie shamelessly - he was volunteering to defect

or

B) he was a Chinese agent from long before that and he was playing the Chinese media strategy from within.