China tries Singapore reporter on spying charge

BEIJING, Aug 15 (Reuters) A reporter for a Singapore newspaper went on trial in China today accused of espionage, a rights group said, one of several cases that have highlighted Beijing's harsh controls of the flow of information.

Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong-based China correspondent for the Straits Times, was detained in China in April 2005 and charged with spying for Taiwan, the self-ruled island that rejects Beijing's claims of sovereignty.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement Ching's trial began at a Beijing court today.

Hong Kong's RTHK radio station said the trial was held at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court. But court officials, reached by telephone, said they had no knowledge of the trial.

China usually conducts trials involving espionage and state security in secret.

Ching's wife and lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Ching was detained in southern Guangzhou where he had travelled to collect documents related to former Chinese Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang.

China is the world's leading jailer of journalists, with at least 32 in custody and another 50 Internet campaigners also in prison, rights group Reporters Without Borders says.

Zhao Yan, a New York Times researcher accused of providing state secrets to foreigners, remains in detention awaiting a verdict in his case.

And a Beijing academic, Lu Jianhua, is also likely to be tried this week in connection with Ching's case, the Information Centre said.

Lu had decided against legal representation, his wife, Qu Liqiu, told Reuters without giving a reason. Qu said she was convinced Lu was innocent.

On Friday, a court in east China's Zhejiang province sentenced an environmental activist, Tan Kai, to a year and a half in prison for ''illegally obtaining state secrets'', Radio Free Asia reported.

Last year, Tan helped farmers in Zhejiang protest against factory pollution threatening their crops and health.

REUTERS RL RK0902