The wife of a Hong Kong journalist jailed in China for espionage has met with her husband for the first time in almost two years, his employer said in Singapore yesterday.
The Straits Times said the meeting between its chief China correspondent Ching Cheong (
Two of the 57-year-old Ching's siblings were also present for the 30-minute meeting, the newspaper reported.
The visit -- just ahead of the start of the Lunar New Year -- came as an "unexpected surprise" for Lau as she had been told last week that the earliest she could visit Ching would be next month, the newspaper said.
"I almost could not believe my ears when I heard it," she said, explaining that she had received a call on Thursday from the Hong Kong Security Bureau, informing her that a visit had been allowed for the next day.
"For a while, I did not know how to react, and I could not sleep much that night as I was looking forward to seeing Ching," she said.
Ching was arrested in April 2005 and sentenced to five years in jail last year for spying for Taiwan, following a one-day, closed-door trial. An appeal was later dismissed.
The journalist, wearing a dark blue prison uniform, cried when he saw his siblings and repeatedly asked them to look after his elderly parents, according to Lau.
"He looked healthy, even though he has a lot more wrinkles now, especially across his forehead, and is so skinny now," she was quoted as saying.
"He also asked us how we were doing and told us not to worry about him. I am just so relieved to have seen him at last," she said.
Ching's case has attracted international attention, highlighting fears China is cracking down against foreign and domestic journalists in the run-up to next year's Olympic Games in Beijing.
Lau thanked Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (
"I am thankful to both him and the Guangzhou authorities for making it possible for us to have a reunion before the Chinese New Year," Lau said.
The couple had not seen each other since April 2005, when Ching was detained.
Lau said the family will continue to appeal for Ching to receive medical parole as he suffers from high blood pressure and insomnia, among other ailments, the Straits Times said.
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS