A brief, breaking, but all too tell-tale news storyby Joseph Kahn, reporting the arrest of a Chinese journalist in today's The New York Times, will surely rock the international journalism community unlike any recent, seemingly similar episode as it plays out in the weeks and months to come. There are ominous elements reported in this case that are different from other recent arrests and detentions of Chinese journalists: namely the charge of selling state secrets to other nations' "intelligence agencies," not a foreign press entity; and there is a "confession" that may or may not have been coerced.
As a journalist, and as a teacher of journalism in China, I offer that this story begs the closest public scrutiny possible. The truth of these charges, whatever it might be, is hugely egregious and destructive to a profession already so battered worldwide.
At this point, "just the facts, ma'am" reporting is what we need; that is what Joseph Kahn, Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times, delivers:
BEIJING, Tuesday, May 31 - China on Tuesday accused a prominent reporter for a Singaporean newspaper of spying for foreign intelligence agencies, making its first official comment on the matter more than a month after the reporter was detained by security officials.
The reporter, Ching Cheong, China correspondent of Singapore's s main newspaper, The Straits Times, and a resident of Hong Kong, was seized by the authorities on April 22 while visiting the southern province of Guangzhou, said his wife, Mary Lau.
"Ching admitted that in recent years he engaged in intelligence gathering activities on the mainland on instructions from foreign intelligence agencies and accepted huge amounts of spying fees," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"Currently, relevant departments are investigating his spying activities," the statement said. It did not offer any specifics about the charges or make clear on behalf of which country he was suspected of spying.
Mr. Ching, 55, is a veteran journalist and analyst of Chinese politics who once worked for a mainland-backed newspaper in Hong Kong before resigning in protest after the crackdown on the Beijing democracy movement in 1989.
Ms. Lau said Mr. Ching had been trying to obtain documents on conversations that Zong Fengmin, a retired party official, had had with Zhao Ziyang, who was purged as general secretary of the Communist Party after the crackdown in 1989.
Ms. Lau could not be reached for comment on the Chinese accusations about her husband's activities. She said earlier that he was engaged in ordinary journalistic work.
Under President Hu Jintao, China has tightened controls over the news media and stepped up pressure on foreign news organizations.
Zhao Yan, a researcher for The New York Times in Beijing, was arrested last fall on charges of leaking state secrets abroad. He arrest came shortly after The Times published a story on the impending retirement of Jiang Zemin, the former top leader.
Mr. Zhao has not been indicted and has been held incommunicado for more than eight months.
