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Journalist worked for China: wife

"Mr. Lu Jianhua frequently shared with Ching Cheong classified comments made by leaders, including yours."

From a letter by Mary Lau, wife of detained reporter Ching Cheong, to Chinese President Hu Jintao

The wife of a veteran journalist accused of spying in China has said her husband helped write reports for the Chinese leadership about Hong Kong and Taiwan and was privy to confidential conversations between leaders.

The reporter, Ching Cheong (程翔), was detained in April after security officials found notes detailing the leaders' classified remarks in the journalist's computer, the Hong Kong-based correspondent's wife, Mary Lau, said in a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) published yesterday in local newspapers.

Having the notes "should have been considered a professional necessity, not the leaking of secrets," Lau said in her letter.

Ching, a China-born Hong Kong resident, was a chief China correspondent for the Straits Times -- Singapore's biggest English-language newspaper -- when he was detained on April 22 in Guangzhou.

This week, China's foreign ministry said that Ching was accused of gathering information for an intelligence agency "outside of our jurisdiction." The ministry didn't identify the agency or describe the information.

Ching's wife said in her letter that her husband helped a Chinese researcher, Lu Jianhua, conduct interviews and prepare briefings commissioned by China's leadership about Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The wife said that Lu -- who worked at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and has also been detained -- had access to confidential discussions between China's leaders.

Addressing the Chinese president in her letter, Lau said, "Mr. Lu Jianhua frequently shared with Ching Cheong classified comments made by leaders, including yours and those of other leaders."

She said that Lu shared the information with Ching so the journalist would be better informed when preparing the briefings.

Lau ended her letter by telling Hu, "Sir, I hope you understand that whatever Ching Cheong and Lu Jianhua did, they were standing firmly on the side of Chinese people. Their starting point was serving the fundamental interest of China."

Also yesterday, the South China Morning Post reported that Hong Kong's likely next leader rebuffed criticism that he hasn't met with Lau.

Donald Tsang (曾蔭權), the front-runner in the July 10 leadership election, said that taking action was more important than meeting with Ching's wife, the paper reported.

"I took action immediately, heard the complaints, the story and immediately referred it to the secretary for security and asked him to find out what it was all about," the paper quoted Tsang as saying.
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