CHINA: China has detained a researcher working for the New York Times on suspicion that he helped break news that ageing leader Jiang Zemin planned to retire from politics this month, sources familiar with the case said yesterday.
Zhao Yan, a former reporter for the magazine Reform, was arrested by state security agents on September 17th. Mr Jiang stepped down from his post as head of the military on September 19th, during the annual meeting of the ruling Communist Party's elite Central Committee.
Earlier this month, the US paper had quoted sources as saying Mr Jiang would hand the chairmanship of the Central Military Commission to his successor as president and party chief Hu Jintao at the plenum, completing a sweeping leadership transition that began at a party congress in 2002.
Zhao was taken into custody on suspicion of illegally providing state secrets to foreigners, according to a copy of the arrest form. The document was issued by the Beijing state security bureau and dated September 21st.
State security "suspect him to be the source of the Jiang Zemin story", a source familiar with the case said. Zhao has worked for the New York Times since May.
New York Times foreign editor Susan Chira denied the charges and said the paper was "deeply concerned" over the case.
"He has never been a source or conduit for state secrets," she said by telephone from New York. - (Reuters)