"I understand that the matter is being actively looked into and the case will be referred to the prosecution department before January 6," Donald Tsang told a press conference after meeting Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit to Beijing.

Tsang gave no details.

Ching Cheong, 55, a Hong Kong citizen working as the Singapore Straits Times' chief China correspondent, was arrested in April in the southern city of Guangzhou and has been held under house arrest in Beijing.

His arrest has been condemned by international press freedom groups.

The government told Ching Cheong's employer this month that his detention without trial has been extended twice, with the extension period to expire on January 6.

Ching was formally arrested on August 5. Under normal circumstances, his case should have been handed over to prosecutors within two months.

Prosecutors will submit a case to a court for trial if it deems there is enough evidence but have occasionally rejected cases for lack of evidence.

The official Xinhua news agency has said Ching set up "a number of channels for espionage" in Hong Kong and mainland China for Taiwanese intelligence between early 2000 and March 2005.

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

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

His wife Mary Lau has said she believed Ching'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 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Hong Kong media reports have said Ching served as an analyst for the Chinese government on Taiwan, but that Chinese officials were upset that he allegedly shared information with Taiwanese politicians.

His wife has insisted he was a patriot who wanted peace between mainland China and Taiwan.

The two sides separated in 1949 at the end of a civil war. But China considers the island part of its territory which must be reunified, by war if necessary.

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