Edward Snowden, the former U.S. intelligence service worker who has been hiding in Hong Kong after exposing large-scale electronic spying by the U.S. government, denied any affiliation with Beijing in a live online chat session held by the British newspaper The Guardian late Monday night.

China on Monday dismissed as "groundless" claims that a former US intelligence contractor who is hiding in Hong Kong spied for Beijing, as state media said extraditing him back home would amount to a "betrayal". China relayed its first concrete comment on the Edward Snowden affair, a day after former US vice president Dick Cheney said he was a "traitor" who may well be acting in cahoots with Beijing's communist government. "I think it is completely groundless," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters when asked if Snowden had spied for China.

Former spy Edward Snowden has exposed not only US cyber-espionage but also political fault lines in Hong Kong that are deepening as the territory, a proud bastion of free speech and protest, chafes under Chinese rule. In retreating to Hong Kong and vowing to fight any extradition attempt, the former CIA analyst is testing its civil liberties and will set a landmark on whether the city can govern itself without interference from Beijing, experts say.

China said Thursday it "has no information to offer" about a former US government subcontractor who leaked information about massive US phone and Internet spying and has taken refuge in Hong Kong. "I have no information to offer," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular briefing when asked about Edward Snowden, who has gone into hiding in the southern Chinese semi-autonomous city.