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Actually there are two instances of という in this sentence (regarding the recent
nsa scandal)

そのスノーデンは、「ＮＳＡは中国に対するハッキングをやっていた」 **という**
[暴露]{ばくろ}を行なってアメリカの中国に対する「人権外交」にダメージを与えたり、Ｇ８会議が北アイルランドで始まる **という** タイミングで、...

I understand the basic use of という and it meaning "called" i.e.

アダムという男性 the man called Adam.

But what about in these two cases.
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grammar
why use という in this sentence
I will attempt to answer this, as no one else has, Below is my attempt at a
translation (my apologies, all, for any mistakes.) I believe the the first という
can be interpreted as "of" (as in "disclosure of") and the second という can be
interpreted as "of which" (as in " the timing of which.") I surmise that if
you think of how の can connect ideas as a particle, then maybe という is serving
that function, but in a vaguer, more conjectural sense. I think if you
translate という in a literal way, it becomes something like "to say/called
thusly/meaning/in other words/so to say." One could try and convey this
meaning in an English translation but I think it would become overly polite
and unwieldy.

という can also have the meaning of the "quotative particle," more casually seen
as って, and understanding this may serve to explain some of its meaning and
usage.

> そのスノーデンは、「ＮＳＡは中国に対するハッキングをやっていた」という 暴露
> を行なってアメリカの中国に対する「人権外交」にダメージを与えたり、Ｇ８会議が北アイルランドで始まるというタイミングで、...
>
> Snowden, whose disclosure of "NSA hacking towards China" resulted in damage
> to America's "Human rights diplomacy" towards China, at the start of the G8
> meeting in North Ireland, the timing of which...

Perhaps one could replace という with の as follows:

> そのスノーデンは、「ＮＳＡは中国に対するハッキングをやっていた」の 暴露

With という, there is the implication of " the 'disclosure' of Snowden... "

While with の it would just be "the disclosure of Snowden..."

Please note that in informal English, the equivalent of the Japanese って is
often the use of the physical gesture of "air quotes." という, in contrast, can
be more directly translated, but if translated literally it can often weigh
down an otherwise fluid English sentence, in ways that does not happen in
Japanese.

References:

<http://tangorin.com/general>/というのは

<http://tangorin.com/general>/って

<http://tangorin.com/general>/という
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In addition to yadokari's great answer and for lack of space in his comments
I'll write up what ive found here.

Amongst other uses of という one is often used to attach a modifier to a noun
clause.

From the given example 「ＮＳＡは中国に対するハッキングをやっていた」is the modifer and 暴露 を行なって the
noun clause.

It's often used especially when the modifer is either

  * heresay
  * a question
  * or simply very long

_Heresay i.e. information received from other people that cannot be adequately
substantiated or a rumor._

Relating to

> 「ＮＳＡは中国に対するハッキングをやっていた」という 暴露

It would indeed make sence to use という here to connect the noun clause 暴露をおかなう
with its preceeding modifier. After all the reporter can only allege that the
NSA is hacking China (at the time anyway, its been verified as true i now
believe) so its heresay.

This I believe is what people mean by air-quoting.

Now onto the last sentence in the example

> Ｇ８会議が北アイルランドで始まるというタイミングで

I believe this is just because the writer felt the modifier Ｇ８会議が北アイルランドで始まる
was long and felt the need to join it to タイミング with という。Just to help it read
better.

This is why という isn't always translatable into English - its merely serving to
make things flow. Just as Yadokari said, if you were to translate it, the most
suitable direct translations like "to say/called thusly/meaning/in other
words/so to say." would result in stuffy english.

As for using という to connect a question modifier with a noun clause I'll
demonstrate with this example

どうやって経済を強化するかという話がありました。

there was a conversation of how to strengthen the economy.

どうやって経済を強化するか modifier (question form)

話がありました。noun clause.

Thanks again to yakokari's answer.
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answer
"という" is used here as relative pronoun "that".
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