In that case, it appears that the Chinese went looking for a law he broke to get rid of a pesky dissident. I.e. he pissed them off for other reasons and then they found something.
What Snowden did, in terms of the actual act of disclosing massive amounts of classified data, was in and of it self very illegal. And it's that actual act that the government takes issue with, so the situation is completely different.
Of course, a major question is do Snowden's motivations grant him an exception to that law or at least grounds of a pardon or such. I'd say yes, though it also depends on what he leaks.
What Snowden did, in terms of the actual act of disclosing massive amounts of classified data, was in and of it self very illegal. And it's that actual act that the government takes issue with, so the situation is completely different.
Of course, a major question is do Snowden's motivations grant him an exception to that law or at least grounds of a pardon or such. I'd say yes, though it also depends on what he leaks.