Hong Kong politicians and lawyers questioned why the man behind the National Security Agency surveillance leak picked the former British colony as a refuge, noting the territory's longstanding cooperation with the U.S. on legal and economic matters.

According to an interview with The Guardian, 29-year-old Edward Snowden, whose revelations have created a political uproar, has stashed himself in an unidentified luxury hotel in Hong Kong, a city he said he chose as the best place to hunker down given its "spirited commitment...