Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday sentenced Hong Kong resident Ching Cheong, a journalist for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper, to five years in prison for spying for Taiwan.

According to the verdict, Ching is also deprived of political rights for one year and personal property worth 300,000 yuan (US$37,500) has been confiscated.

"The penalty is a mitigated one considering that after Ching was detained, he voluntarily confessed to more espionage activities than those the State security departments had known about. He also gave up his notebook computer, which contained evidence of espionage, to the authorities," according to a statement released by the court.

According the statement, when he worked in Taiwan as a journalist for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper, Ching became acquainted with two people from a Taiwan foundation, one surnamed Xue and another Dai.

The court learned the foundation was actually an espionage organization, and Xue and Dai were deputies, of which Ching had full knowledge. The court heard that at the request of Xue and Dai he supplied information involving State secrets and intelligence he received from contacts in Beijing to Xue and Dai via fax and email from May 2004 to April 2005.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Chief Executive Donald Tsang said yesterday the SAR government must respect the "one country, two systems" principle when rendering assistance according to the wishes and appeals of Ching's family's.

Tsang told the press that since the Chinese mainland authorities have ruled on the case, the SAR government is not in a position to comment on the details.

Source: China Daily