HONG KONG - CHINA has freed Mr Ching Cheong, The Straits Times' Hong Kong-based correspondent who was jailed for espionage activities in 2006, Chinese government officials said on Tuesday.

Mr Ching, 58, who was reportedly in poor health and whose family had pushed for an early release on medical grounds, was freed on Monday, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and was expected back in Hong Kong on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials in China notified Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday morning that Mr Ching had been released on parole, said a government spokesman who declined to be named, citing internal policy.

No other details were immediately available. Mr Ching's wife, Mary Lau, could not be reached for comments.

Mr Ching was chief China correspondent for The Straits Times when he was arrested in April 2005.

He was sentenced to five years' jail in August 2006 on charges of spying for Taiwan after a one-day, closed-door trial. A Chinese court dismissed his appeal in November 2006.

China's official Xinhua news agency had previously reported that Mr Ching was convicted of selling unspecified 'state secrets and intelligence' to an unnamed Taiwanese foundation, which it said was a front for Taiwanese espionage activities on the mainland.

He was detained during a visit to the southern city of Guangzhou.

Mr Ching had always maintained his innocence.

Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK said Mr Ching had been released on parole because he had served more than half of his five-year term.

Mr Ching, who was moved from Beijing to a prison in Guangdong province in January last year, is expected to return home later on Tuesday.

The government spokesman said Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang was happy that Mr Ching would be with his family for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Singapore Press Holdings, which publishes The Straits Times, also welcomed his 'long awaited release.'

'We are delighted at the news of Ching Cheong's parole and long awaited release. We are very happy that he will be reunited with his wife and family for Chinese New Year. We look forward to meeting him as soon as possible,' said an SPH spokesman on Tuesday.

Mr Ching's case has attracted international attention, highlighting fears China is cracking down on foreign and domestic journalists in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The International PEN, which champions writers' freedoms in 101 countries, had urged China's President Hu Jintao to free 40 jailed dissident writers and journalists, including Mr Ching, ahead of the Olympics.

In an open letter to Mr Hu, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association said Ching had been suffering from arrhythmia and the group recently learned that his illness has deteriorated rapidly in jail. -- REUTERS, AFP, AP.