I never quite stumbled across this one until today.
Hope the dude's trial is going well man.
BEIJING, May 31 Kyodo
(EDS: ADDING DETAILS)
China said Tuesday a Singapore newspaper reporter detained for more than a month is being investigated for alleged spying.
According to a brief Foreign Ministry statement, Ching Cheong, 55, a Hong Kong resident and reporter for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper, has received ''a large amount of spying fees.''
Because his case involves spying, the statement says, he is being investigated according to the law for ''the issue of spying activity'' in China.
''Ching has already admitted that in the past few years, according to the instructions of overseas intelligence agencies, he engaged in intelligence-gathering activities in mainland China,'' the statement says.
The China-born veteran writer holds a British national passport and has Singapore permanent residency. He is the chief China correspondent for the Straits Times, which is published by Singapore Press Holdings, the sole newspaper publisher in the island-state and widely seen as pro-government.
In Hong Kong, Ching's wife Mary Lau told the Hong Kong Economic Journal that her husband has been missing since April 22 when he left Hong Kong for Guangzhou, where he was apparently detained before meeting a source to pick up sensitive documents that may have related to the late Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang.
Zhao, purged after the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators at Beijing's Tiananmen Square, lived under house arrest in Beijing for a decade and a half until his death on Jan. 17 this year at age 85.
The information the journalist wanted had nothing to do with Zhao, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said at a regular press briefing Tuesday.
Later Tuesday, Ching's wife said her husband has wanted to publish a second book on Zhao, after getting more exclusive information, ''purely out of a journalist's concern.''
''Ching Cheong has always been hardworking, frugal, truthful to his friends and family...We don't have children and lead a very simple life. Why would he spy to put his country in danger?'' she said in a statement.
''We hope both the local and international community can monitor the case to ensure a fair trial for my husband,'' Lau said.
Straits Times' lawyers and representatives will arrive in Hong Kong on Wednesday to follow up on the case, she said.
Ong Yew-kim, an expert on China law with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said authorities have violated their own law by failing to notify Ching's family within 24 hours of his detention.
Ong also said China's defective legal system has made it dangerous for journalists pursuing news.
''The law does not specify what constitutes to intelligence or state secrets. It is open to the interpretation of the law enforcement bodies,'' he said.
Singapore Press Holdings said in a statement Monday that Ching ''has served us with distinction as a very well-informed correspondent and analyst.''
But China rejected the publisher's request to visit Ching in China. Ching told his bosses April 28 that he was helping the Chinese authorities with an investigation, the Singapore Press Holdings statement said.
China will treat Ching as a Hong Kong resident, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said. This status affords less legal protection than foreign nationals would receive in China.
China has evidence, the spokesman claimed.
''Regarding evidence, of course there is evidence,'' he said. ''There is ample evidence.''
Also Tuesday, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association called on China to release Ching as soon as possible.
''Ching Cheong is an experienced reporter,'' association chairwoman Cheung Ping-ling told Kyodo News.
''Collecting information is very normal for reporters doing their jobs. If such a standard procedure is considered spying, it poses as a huge land mine for journalists,'' she said.
Cheung said she was also concerned about under what circumstances Ching responded to the spying charge.
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