Friends and colleagues of Ching Cheong, a reporter for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper, said political intervention was crucial as they had received legal advice that he could be detained indefinitely without trial.

"This is very unfair and illogical and it has been going on for too long," said Mak Chai-ming, a friend who has been campaigning for Ching's release.

"He should be treated in a more humane way. The process should be expedited," Hong Kong solicitor David Hui added.

They were speaking ahead of the one-year anniversary on Saturday of Ching's arrest by Chinese police. He was held for four months before being formally charged with spying for rival Taiwan, an accusation he and his supporters deny.

The case was raised by Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang during meetings with mainland China officials Friday on the southern island of Hainan. He was told the case was "actively" proceeding, an official said.

Mak said it has been handed to prosecutors to determine a trial date. But the complexity of China's legal system meant extensions could be continually granted to further investigate the case, he said.

Supporters had asked US President George W. Bush to raise the issue when he met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington on Thursday, but were unsure if Ching was one of the six people who Bush asked Hu to release.

Campaigners including Ching's wife Mary Lau say they have heard nothing about his condition.

China's state Xinhua news agency has alleged Ching set up "a number of channels for espionage" in Hong Kong and mainland China for Taiwanese intelligence between 2000 and 2005.

It said Ching obtained "a great deal of information" on China's political, economic and military affairs.

It also accused him of receiving hundreds of thousands of US dollars from Taiwan for espionage activities. Xinhua repeated a Chinese assertion that Ching had confessed.

Lau said the last 12 months had been traumatic for her family.

"Friends from various quarters who support Ching Cheong are still working hard and hoping the incident can be settled soon," she said in a statement.

"But in this endless waiting, only anxiety and helplessness accompany his family members and me."

Lau has said she believes her husband's arrest was connected to his attempts to acquire a publication about late Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, who was sacked for opposing the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Supporters such as the Hong Kong Journalists Association have repeatedly written to Tsang urging him to raise the case with China's leadership.


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