The Chinese mainland authorities decided to keep a distance from Mr. Snowden personally to ensure that if Mr. Snowden eventually ended up in American hands he would not be able to disclose what Chinese officials said to him, the journalist said.

Beijing determined early on that Mr. Snowden would have to leave Hong Kong, and should not be allowed to stay to go through a protracted legal battle in the Hong Kong courts to resist the United States extradition demand, the journalist said. “That would have lasted years, and then the United States would also wonder what he was telling China,” the journalist said. “What would the United States prefer?”

The Hong Kong government also hit back at American criticisms, saying that the United States had received ample warning that its request for Mr. Snowden’s detention was incomplete.

Rimsky Yuen, the secretary for justice, said that the Hong Kong government mentioned that it had concerns about the request before Friday. He disputed the White House’s characterization of Hong Kong as having done little with the American request before letting Mr. Snowden go to the airport on Sunday morning and leave the territory on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow.

The United States concentrated its diplomatic efforts on the Hong Kong authorities, not Beijing, two Chinese who monitored the process said. The request for Mr. Snowden’s extradition was made to Hong Kong, which has an extradition treaty with the United States.

Hong Kong said that the request did not fully meet its legal requirements, and after that China gave the green light for Mr. Snowden to fly to Moscow. The Chinese government decided that he had to leave before Washington made a request that might be acceptable to the Hong Kong courts, the journalist said.

An editorial published Tuesday by the state-run Xinhua news agency said the Snowden case “might not be a completely bad thing after all.”