RAPID ACTION NETWORK
2 June 2005
RAN 21/05

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN strongly protests the recent arrest and detention of Ching Cheong, the Hong Kong based correspondent for The Straits Times Newspaper, and calls for his immediate release.

According to recent reports, Ching Cheong was detained in late April 2005 in Guangzhou, southern China. The authorities have accused him of being a foreign agent and intend to charge him with "stealing core state secrets", but have so far failed to furnish any evidence to substantiate their allegation.

Sources familiar with the case claim that Ching Cheong was attempting to get hold of a manuscript of secret interviews with the late Zhao Ziyang, a former Premier and Secretary-General of the Communist Party who opposed the government clampdown on the Tiananmen Square protestors in 1989, which led to his political downfall. It has been reported that the publication of the interviews would be
extremely damaging to the Communist regime in China.

International PEN believes the detention of Ching Cheong to be unwarranted, and a violation of his right to free expression.

Recommended Action

Please send appeals:

-Expressing alarm at Ching Cheong's detention and urging the Chinese authorities to release him;
-Referring to concerns about the seemingly intractable intolerance of dissent in China and a corresponding pattern of harassment and arrests of writers and journalists;
-Urging the Chinese authorities to respect the right to free expression as guaranteed under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Appeals to:

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People's Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
P.R.China.
Salutation: Your Excellency

WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli
Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China
The State Council
9 Xihuangcheng Genbeijie
Beijingshi 100032,
P.R. China
Fax: +86 10 6596 1109
Salutation: Your Excellency

His Excellency Zhang Fusen
Minister of Justice
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Chaoyang-qu
Beijing-shi 100020
P.R.China
E-mail: minister@legalinfo.gov.cn
Fax: +86 10 65 292345
Salutation: Your Excellency

Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for China in your country if possible.

Please check back with WiPC if writing appeals after 30th June 2005.

For further information, please contact the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN, 9/10 Charterhouse Buildings, London EC1M 7AT, United Kingdom. Tel:+44(0) 207
253 3226 Fax: +44 (0) 207 253 5711. Intpen@gn.apc.org.