THE long-awaited trial in China of a Hong Kong journalist detained for nearly 16 months on espionage charges ended after just one day, his employer said.

The outcome of the proceedings against 56-year-old Ching Cheong at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court was unknown, according to Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), publisher of the Straits Times newspaper.

"We are glad that the trial for Ching Cheong is finally over after his detention for more than a year," SPH said in a statement.

"We sincerely hope for the best outcome and will continue to assist him and his family in all possible ways."

As of late Tuesday no official confirmation was available from the court, which had given few additional details other than to name the judge as Li Huiwen.

A court official told reporters the press was banned from covering the case and that none of Ching's family members were in attendance.

His wife's application to attend the trial was turned down, said the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

The proceedings appeared to follow a similar pattern to other sensitive cases involving the press -- such as a one-day trial in June for New York Times researcher Zhao Yan -- in which the events are held behind closed doors.

Ching was arrested in April last year in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and has been held under house arrest in Beijing since then, facing allegations of spying for foreign agents.

The state-run 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 had also said Ching obtained "a great deal of information" on China's political, economic and military affairs.

It accused him of receiving hundreds of thousands of US dollars from Taiwan for his espionage activities.

Ching's wife Mary Lau, who has always maintained his innocence, has said Ching apparently fell into a trap set by an intermediary.

She has said his arrest was connected to his attempts to obtain secretly recorded interviews with late Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, who was sacked for opposing the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

"Ching loves his country and I strongly believe he won't do anything to harm the national interest," Lau said in a recorded message played to a candle-light vigil in Hong Kong Tuesday.

"I hope this will end as soon as possible so he can see his family again," she said in the message, heard by about 100 participants in the vigil.

Media rights groups such as Reporters Without Borders have also said Ching is innocent.

"Ching Cheong was in China to carry out his work as a journalist and for that reason alone," Reporters Without Borders says in its online campaign material seeking his release.

"We reject the accusations of spying brought against him by the Chinese government, which are liable to create confusion and cast suspicion on the entire profession."

Hong Kong media has reported that Ching might face a jail term of between eight and 10 years, although there has been no official mention of potential jail terms.

Trials in China are often quick, with proceedings regularly finishing in less than a day. However verdicts can often be delayed for weeks or months.

The Singapore embassy in Beijing declined comment on the case on Tuesday.

A SPH spokeswoman said it was paying for Ching's legal costs but that it was the journalist's family who engaged the lawyers.

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