程翔

We wrote you when you first became the HK SAR Chief Executive regarding the case of senior Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong who had been detained in the mainland. We convey ed to you the serious concern of several hundred friends of Ching's, including well-known community figures, and asked you to render help to him . Our appeal has yet to bear fruit.

When you went to Beijing last June to officially assume the post of Chief Executive, you indicated that the Ching case would soon be fully clarified. We waited in anxiety for the whole of half a year, only to hear you say upon returning from Beijing on a reporting trip at the end of last year that the suspicion on Ching Cheong had yet to be cleared, and that the case had been referred from the State S ecurity to the P rocuratorate D epartments. Three months ha d since elapsed, during which the case ha d passed back and forth between the State S ecurity and the P rocuratorate D epartments. There is no word on whether Ching will be prosecuted, or when the case will go to court. Ching ha d experienced more than 300 days of detention without prosecution and without any judicial process , and t here is no knowing for how long this will go on. Ching , his relatives and friends, and everybody concerned with hi s fate, have to go on waiting , and go on being tormented unnecessarily.

Various sectors of the HK SAR and even the international community have not forgotten Ching Cheong after his detention of more than 300 days. A case that has had such far-reaching effects should not be delayed any longer. As Mr . Xu Simin, recipient of the highest HK SAR Grand Bauhinia Award said recently , “the reputation of our country's judiciary and rule of law will be compromised if [the Ching case] is still not re solved over a long period . ”

Members of the Legislative Council, the HKSAR delegates to the NPC and the HKSAR deputies of the CPPCC have voiced their concerns on Ching's behalf. It is evident that the Ching case has received the attention of a broad spectrum of society. Those who support an early and reasonable resolution of the case are not restricted to either his old friends and journalists, or people from specific social strata or political affiliations. The attention that various sectors have given to the Ching case is phenomenal and is an indication of their worries about whether the HK SAR residents , after reintegration with the motherland, can enjoy safety, freedom, and legal protection in the mainland. It also signifies the doubts as to whether the HKSAR Government can in fact safeguard the legal protection of the HK SAR residents when they are in the mainland.

Ching Cheong will have been detained for one year on April 22. Up to now, his colleagues and friends have been quietly and patiently waiting for developments, and we feel as though we ourselves were going through his ordeal. Today w e are writing to you again to earnestly ask you to reflect in no uncertain terms to the central authorities the strong and widespread concern shown to the Ching case by ourselves and by the HK SAR residents. We hope you will seek to ensure that concerned departments in the mainland will resolve the Ching case as early as possible and in a reasonable manner , and that the HK SAR residents' safety, freedom and legal protection in the mainland can be assured.

Having known Ching Ch eong for many years, we regard him as a paragon of patriotism. If his freedom can be restored soon , we feel that this will be a win-win resolution for Ching himself, his family and friends, Hong Kong society, the C entral G overnment as well as the cross-Taiwan Strait relations.