The Wall Street Journal-20080206-Politics - Economics- Beijing Frees Writer in Surprise Move

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Politics & Economics: Beijing Frees Writer in Surprise Move

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China released Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong from prison as abruptly as it arrested him three years ago on espionage charges.

Mr. Ching, a Hong Kong-based correspondent for the Straits Times of Singapore, was arrested in April 2005 while visiting Guangzhou, a city in China's industrial south, near Hong Kong.

At the time of his arrest, Mr. Ching was believed to be gathering material about former Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, who sympathized with student demonstrators during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. In August 2006, after a one-day trial, he was sentenced to five years in jail on charges of spying for Taiwan.

Well-connected friends made appeals on behalf of Mr. Ching, now 58 years old and in ailing health, including industrialist Henry Fok, who died in 2006, and Allen Lee, a former Hong Kong delegate to China's legislature, the National People's Congress. Beijing issued no statement about Mr. Ching's release.

Mr. Lee, who maintains that Mr. Ching is innocent, said Beijing "did the right thing" by releasing the journalist. He said the approach of the Beijing Olympics may have factored into authorities' calculations. "They care about their international image, particularly since Ching Cheong was working for the Straits Times," he said.

The Games have made China a ready target for advocates of human rights and free speech. Mr. Ching was regarded as an unusual political prisoner for China, as he had a reputation as a Beijing-friendly journalist from earlier work at the pro-China daily, Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po.

Mr. Ching released a brief statement thanking officials and friends for their support. Calls to the prison where Mr. Ching was held, as well as to the press office of that province's Public Security Bureau, went unanswered. Calls to the Supreme People's Court in Beijing also went unanswered.

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Geoffrey A. Fowler, Ellen Zhu and Kersten Zhang contributed to this article.