China confirms Singapore journalist gets five years'
jail for espionage
HONG KONG: Singapore journalist Ching Cheong has been jailed for
five years by a Chinese court for spying, Hong Kong television said
on Thursday.
Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong-based China correspondent for the Straits
Times, has been detained in China since April 2005.
In response to the media queries on the case of Mr Ching Cheong,
the publisher of The Straits Times, Singapore Press Holdings has
issued a press statement noting with concern the sentence meted
out.
The company has appealed to the Chinese authorities to show Mr
Ching Cheong leniency and compassion on account of his poor health.
- CNA