Ching Cheong
{{Short description|Chinese journalist (born 1949)}}
{{distinguish|Ching chong}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{family name hatnote|Ching|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ching Cheong
| image = Chingcheong.JPG
| caption = Cheong in 2008
| native_name = {{lang|zh|程翔}}
| native_name_lang = zh
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|12|22|df=y}}
| birth_place = Chaochow, Canton, China
| citizenship = {{hlist|China|United Kingdom}}
| alma_mater = University of Hong Kong (BEc)
| occupation = Journalist
| years_active = 1974–present
| criminal_charge = Compromising state secrets of the People's Republic of China via espionage for the Republic of China (2005)
| criminal_penalty = 5 years in prison (2006)
| criminal_status = Released (2008)
| spouse = {{marriage|Mary Lau Mun-yee|1982}}{{Cite web |last=Cheung |first=Gary |date=28 January 2006 |title=A lonely holiday for wife of detained HK journalist |url=https://www.scmp.com/article/534575/lonely-holiday-wife-detained-hk-journalist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115211004/https://www.scmp.com/article/534575/lonely-holiday-wife-detained-hk-journalist |archive-date=15 January 2024 |access-date=15 January 2024 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| c = 程翔
| p = Chéng Xiáng
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|ch|eng|2|-|x|iang|2}}
| myr = Chéng Syáng
| w = Ch'eng Hsiang
| j = Cing4 Coeng4
| y = Chìhng Chèuhng
}}
File:HK Victoria Park Cable TV HK RTHK Free Ching Cheong.JPG, decrying Cheong's ongoing detention in China (July 2007)]]
Ching Cheong ({{zh|t=程翔}}; 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.{{cite web|title=Ten years since arrest of Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong in Shenzhen|url=http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1150018/betrayed|website=Post Magazine|publisher=Post Magazine|access-date=3 May 2016}}
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 a bachelor's degree in economics in 1973.
In 1974, he joined the Hong Konger pro-CCP newspaper Wen Wei Po ({{zh|t=文匯報|labels=no}}), 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.{{Cite web |last=Cheong |first=Ching |date=24 February 2021 |title=The Fall Of Hong Kong: China's Strategic Plan To Conquer Hong Kong And Purge It Of Its People |url=https://www.memri.org/reports/fall-hong-kong-chinas-strategic-plan-conquer-hong-kong-and-purge-it-its-people |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201010240/https://www.memri.org/reports/fall-hong-kong-chinas-strategic-plan-conquer-hong-kong-and-purge-it-its-people |archive-date=1 December 2022 |access-date=17 January 2024 |website=MEMRI |language=en}}
Espionage charges
= 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'.{{Citation needed|date=September 2018}} 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.{{cite press release
| title = Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong accused of spying
| publisher = Reporters Without Borders
| url = http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13973
| access-date = 31 August 2006
| url-status = dead
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060908035025/http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13973
| archive-date = 8 September 2006 }}
= 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.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}
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.{{cite news
| title = China jails HK reporter 5 years for spying
| work = Reuters
| publisher = Financial Times
| date= 31 August 2006
| url = http://www.ft.com/cms/s/aa562056-389b-11db-ae2c-0000779e2340.html
| access-date = 31 August 2006}}
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.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}
On 1 September 2006, Cheong's wife reported that her husband had called the verdict "very unfair" and vowed to appeal the sentence.{{cite news
| title = Jailed China journalist to appeal
|publisher=BBC News
| date= 1 September 2006
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5305696.stm
| access-date = 1 September 2006}}
On 5 February 2008, the Chinese government announced that they had released Cheong from prison early, days before the Chinese New Year holiday.{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aqb2CdTsEI2I&refer=asia | title=China Releases Jailed Straits Times Journalist Ching Cheong | last=Wong | first=Kelvin | work=Bloomberg | date=5 February 2008 |access-date=5 February 2008 }}
See also
- Jiang Weiping, a Chinese journalist imprisoned from 2000 to 2006 for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party in his Hong Kong publications
- Jimmy Lai, a Hong Konger activist imprisoned since 2020 for organizing public demonstrations against the Chinese Communist Party
References
{{reflist}}
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7227695.stm China frees Hong Kong journalist], BBC
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}}
External links
- [http://www.chingcheong.com Ching Cheong Foundation Ltd.'s official site] (in Chinese)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060908035025/http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13973 Reporters Sans Frontiers article]
- [https://archive.today/20130415032404/http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/72434/ Ching Cheong trial adjourned for lack of evidence]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060813112345/http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/74020/ International press freedom groups call for Ching Cheong's release]: IFEX
- [http://www.hkja.org.hk/ Hong Kong Journalists Association]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060113123725/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GF09Ad04.html "Red Fear in Hong Kong"], The Asia Times, 9 June 2005.
- [https://archive.today/20110604020736/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1634586,00.html "Journalist held for seeking truth on Tiananmen killings"], The Times Online, 31 May 2005.
- [http://www.rfa.org/english/background/china/2005/05/31/china_journalist_arrest/ "Detained Journalist's Wife Says China Set Him Up"], Radio Free Asia, 31 May 2005.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080218065233/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Front_Page/GE31Aa02.html "Zhao manuscript chase leads to arrest"], The Standard, 31 May 2005.
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6179016.stm China rejects journalist appeal], BBC NEWS
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ching, Cheong}}
Category:Hong Kong journalists
Category:Chinese prisoners and detainees
Category:Alumni of St. Paul's College, Hong Kong
Category:Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Category:Prisoners and detainees of the People's Republic of China