Dodging the essence of the Snowden case again, Carney and other US officials then started to argue that Snowden has chosen unlikely protectors "if his passion here is for press freedom and freedom of the Internet".

To me, the answer is quite simple, and I am not going to dodge it: Only few countries dare to stand up to the sole superpower given its willingness to coerce others to get its way.

After sensing unwillingness by the Russian President Vladimir Putin to hand over Snowden to the US, Secretary of State John Kerry quickly called Russia a "repressive country".

US officials and lawmakers have also heaped blames on Ecuador, which is considering Snowden's request for asylum. The chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez, has proposed punishing Ecuador economically if it offers him asylum. US officials also dodged Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino's question why the US has refused to extradite several convicted Ecuadorean bankers wanted by his government.

If a court in Miami, Florida, can decide whether the Ecuadorean bankers are criminals or not, then using the same logic, it should not be up to the US government to decide whether Snowden is a felon or not. In most parts of the world, the 30-year-old is regarded as a hero, not a criminal.

The US has launched a vicious and unfounded publicity campaign over the past year accusing China of cyber espionage, a charge that most countries, certainly China, can legitimately make against the US.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday, Barton Gellman, whom Snowden contacted at the Washington Post to publicize his disclosures, repeatedly reminded the audience that the essence of the Snowden case is his revelations, not anything else. That was also the constant message of Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian reporter who has been covering Snowden's case from the very beginning.

I don't know how many times the US has tried so far to dodge the fundamental question about Snowden's revelations. It certainly has appeared resourceful and relentless.

But it is time to answer the question, please!

The author, based in Washington, is deputy editor of China Daily USA. E-mail: [email protected]