Ching Cheong

Ching Cheong (born 22 December 1949) is a Chinese senior journalist with The Straits Times. He is best known for having been interned by the People's Republic of China on allegations of spying for Taiwan. He was detained in April 2005 and spent over 1,000 days in prison; his sentencing in August 2006 was for five years' imprisonment, scheduled to end in August 2011, but he was released just before Chinese New Year in February 2008.

Biography
Cheong was born in Guangzhou, China, on 3 December 1949. Educated at St. Paul's College, Hong Kong, he graduated from the University of Hong Kong with an Economics degree in 1973.

In 1974, he joined the Hong Konger pro-CCP newspaper Wen Wei Po, of which he eventually became vice-editorial manager. However, following the Tiananmen Square massacre of 4 June 1989, Cheong and around 40 other journalists resigned from the newspaper in protest. Subsequently, he and Li Zhisong, along with a few other journalists, founded Commentary, a political magazine focused on the CCP.

In 1996, he joined the staff of the Singapore-based The Straits Times. Initially, he was assigned to the Taiwan desk, where his articles clearly voiced a pro-unification stance. These articles are collected in his book Will Taiwan Break Away: The Rise of Taiwanese Nationalism. Cheong was later named as the journal's China correspondent.

In a 2021 article for the American non-profit think tank MEMRI, Cheong reflected on the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, describing China as plotting to destroy Hong Kong by "keeping Hong Kong, but not Hong Kong people" in light of the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill.

Entry into mainland China
In the spring of 2005, he entered mainland China on a Home Return Permit, while researching former Communist Party leader, Zhao Ziyang. On 22 April 2005, he was charged with spying on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency and was arrested in Guangzhou.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry later reported that he had confessed to these accusations. Formal charges were drawn up on 5 August. He was charged with passing state secrets to the Republic of China (Taiwan) over a period of five years. In particular, he was accused of using money provided by Taiwan to purchase political and military information. He is the first Hong Kong journalist to be charged with spying since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to the PRC in 1997. Cheong's wife Mary Lau said that the charges were 'ludicrous'. She also added that Cheong had apparently fallen victim to entrapment by an intermediary as he was trying to obtain recordings of secret interviews with the former Prime Minister.

International reaction
In June 2005, the Hong Kong Journalists Association and Reporters Without Borders organised a petition calling for Cheong's immediate release from unfair detention. The petition, containing more than 13,000 signatures, was sent to Hu Jintao, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China. The International Federation of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists also protested Cheong's detention. The British Government was also asked to intervene as Cheong held a British National (Overseas) passport.

During the incident, some tabloids in Hong Kong insinuated that he was spying because he had to earn money for a mistress in China. The supposed mistress went to Hong Kong from China and gave witness that she had no relationship with Cheong. The accusation ceased when a lot of evidence showed that Cheong was innocent.

On 12 January 2006, 35 legislative councillors including 10 pro-Beijing councillors (including three from the Liberal Party, three from the DAB, and one from the Alliance Party) signed an open letter asking the Chinese authorities to release Cheong unless there was sufficient evidence.

Imprisonment and release
On 22 February 2006, the prosecutor in charge of Cheong's case decided to send his file back to the State Security Department for further investigation. The trial was thus delayed for at least one month.

Cheong was tried in camera, found guilty of spying, and was sentenced on 31 August 2006 to five years' imprisonment. The family's statement on the same day stated the verdict was extremely biased, adopting only evidence of the Procuratorate while ignoring almost all defence arguments and Cheong's defence.

On 1 September 2006, Cheong's wife reported that her husband had called the verdict "very unfair" and vowed to appeal the sentence.

On 5 February 2008, the Chinese government announced that they had released Cheong from prison early, days before the Chinese New Year holiday.

Published works

 * Will Taiwan Break Away: The Rise of Taiwanese Nationalism (Singapore University Press, 2001) ISBN 981-02-4486-X
 * with Ching Hung-Yee: Handbook on China's WTO Accession and Its Impacts (Imperial College Press, 2003) ISBN 981-238-061-2