This afternoon SCMP carries a piece by William Foreman of AP on the latest twist in the Ching Cheong case.

The reporter, Ching Cheong, was detained in April after security officials found notes detailing the leaders’ classified remarks in the journalist’s computer, the Hong Kong-based correspondent’s wife, Mary Lau, said in a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao published on Friday in local newspapers.

Having the notes “should have been considered a professional necessity, not the leaking of secrets,” Mrs Lau said in her letter.

...

Ching’s wife said in her letter that her husband helped a Chinese researcher, Lu Jianhua, conduct interviews and prepare briefings commissioned by China’s leadership about Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The wife said that Lu — who worked at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and who has also been detained — had access to confidential discussions between China’s leaders.

Addressing the Chinese president in her letter, Mrs Lau said, “Mr. Lu Jianhua frequently shared with Ching Cheong classified comments made by leaders, including yours and those of other leaders.”

She said that Lu shared the information with Ching so the journalist would be better informed when preparing the briefings.

Mrs Lau ended her letter by telling Mr Hu, “Sir, I hope you understand that whatever Ching Cheong and Lu Jianhua did, they were standing firmly on the side of Chinese people. Their starting point was serving the fundamental interest of China.”

Some might lead you to believe that, "sorry, this story has been completely outgrown right now several generations of other stories." and that "there may be another completely new version tomorrow.", when in fact this letter isn't in fact mutually exclusive of Ching going after a Zhao Ziyang manuscript. The National Security Bureau intelligence told them one thing, but when it came time to prove the allegations all they came up with is this auxilliary story. There may be those individuals who are desperate for this story to go away or to discredit it for personal reasons, but keep in mind that reporters often are keeping multiple eggs warm at any one time.

SimonWorld with the Reuters version of the story
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