Exactly, I don't know why this reasoning isn't more obvious to people. He didn't have a "world of asylum options" at all, realistically very few countries coul

Exactly, I don't know why this reasoning isn't more obvious to people. He didn't have a "world of asylum options" at all, realistically very few countries could resist US pressure to extradite him, China and Russia being the top two. And he gives China a huge reason not to extradite him - reciprocity for the US granting asylum to Chinese dissidents, and further the ability to use his case to advance their argument that the US government is being hypocritical when it criticizes China for all manner of things, from civil rights violations to cyberespionage. He is a huge political coupe for the Chinese government, that just sort of fell into their hands, and as the Xinhua article supporting asylum for Snowden shows, they are going to milk it for all it's worth. He's playing a dangerous game, and there are no guarantees anywhere for him, but I'm pretty certain he put himself in the best possible place with the best possible odds. Better to play one superpower off another, than to put yourself in the power of a country that may share your sympathies but have no power to protect you.