Entry into mainland China

In the spring of 2005, he entered mainland China on a Home Return Permit, while researching former Communist Party leader, Zhao Ziyang. On 22 April 2005, he was charged with spying on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency and was arrested in Guangzhou.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry later reported that he had confessed to these accusations. Formal charges were drawn up on 5 August. He was charged with passing state secrets to the Republic of China (Taiwan) over a period of five years. In particular, he was accused of using money provided by Taiwan to purchase political and military information. He is the first Hong Kong journalist to be charged with spying since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to the PRC in 1997. Cheong's wife Mary Lau said that the charges were 'ludicrous'.^{[citation needed]} She also added that Cheong had apparently fallen victim to entrapment by an intermediary as he was trying to obtain recordings of secret interviews with the former Prime Minister.^[4]

International reaction

In June 2005, the Hong Kong Journalists Association and Reporters Without Borders organised a petition calling for Cheong's immediate release from unfair detention. The petition, containing more than 13,000 signatures, was sent to Hu Jintao, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China. The International Federation of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists also protested Cheong's detention. The British Government was also asked to intervene as Cheong held a British National (Overseas) passport.

During the incident, some tabloids in Hong Kong insinuated that he was spying because he had to earn money for a mistress in China. The supposed mistress went to Hong Kong from China and gave witness that she had no relationship with Cheong. The accusation ceased when a lot of evidence showed that Cheong was innocent.^{[citation needed]}

On 12 January 2006, 35 legislative councillors including 10 pro-Beijing councillors (including three from the Liberal Party, three from the DAB, and one from the Alliance Party) signed an open letter asking the Chinese authorities to release Cheong unless there was sufficient evidence.

Imprisonment and release

On 22 February 2006, the prosecutor in charge of Cheong's case decided to send his file back to the State Security Department for further investigation. The trial was thus delayed for at least one month.

Cheong was tried in camera, found guilty of spying, and was sentenced on 31 August 2006 to five years' imprisonment.^[5] The family's statement on the same day stated the verdict was extremely biased, adopting only evidence of the Procuratorate while ignoring almost all defence arguments and Cheong's defence.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 September 2006, Cheong's wife reported that her husband had called the verdict "very unfair" and vowed to appeal the sentence.^[6]

On 5 February 2008, the Chinese government announced that they had released Cheong from prison early, days before the Chinese New Year holiday.^[7]