HONG KONG - CHING CHEONG, a Hong Kong reporter jailed in China on charges of spying but freed on parole this month, professed his innocence on Thursday and called for an Olympics amnesty to foster 'social harmony'.

The China beat reporter for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper was released from prison in the southern province of Guangdong on Feb 5 after serving about half of his five-year term for spying for Taiwan. He was detained in April 2005.

'I have never done anything that endangers national security or harms my country's interests,' he told reporters in Hong Kong.

His release came after intense lobbying from activists and politicians for clemency ahead of the Beijing Olympics, which start on Aug 8, but Mr Ching said he was 'not too sure' if his release had anything to do with the Games.

China has a history of freeing high-profile political prisoners and dissidents ahead of major state visits or events.

'This year is the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening and our first Olympics. I hope the Beijing government will announce an amnesty to help create greater social harmony,' Mr Ching said in a prepared statement.

Corruption charge
Three days after Mr Ching was freed, authorities released the former deputy editor of a hard-hitting newspaper, who was jailed on a corruption charge that is widely believed to have been trumped up by authorities unhappy about the paper's muckraking.

Mr Yu Huafeng, of the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily, had four years left on his sentence.

A pre-Olympics amnesty, however, appeared unlikely.

Mr Ching's release coincided with the jailing of dissident writer Lu Gengsong on a charge of inciting subversion over essays he wrote that were critical of the government.

And this week, an unemployed factory worker from northeastern China went on trial for the same crime after he helped villagers issue a petition about disputed land last year that declared, 'We don't want the Olympics, we want human rights'.

Mr Ching was originally detained in April 2005. His case has underscored curbs on the media and dissent that have been stepped up under President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao.

During his time in a detention centre and then jail, Mr Ching said he went through a 'horrible downward spiral' of self-doubt and considered suicide.

'At that time I was so depressed that I doubted every single value that I have treasured for life,' he said. 'After a long and painful review, I decided that I had not made any wrong decisions.'

Despite his ordeal, Ching still considers himself a patriot, and said he, like most Chinese, hoped for broader democracy one day. He declined to comment on whether or not his trial was unfair, citing his parole.

Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy of 23 million people off the Chinese coast.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists ranks China as the number-one jailer of journalists. -- REUTERS