In 1974, he joined the Hong Konger pro-CCP newspaper Wen Wei Po (文匯報), of which he eventually became vice-editorial manager.

[3] In the spring of 2005, he entered mainland China on a Home Return Permit, while researching former Communist Party leader, Zhao Ziyang.

[citation needed] She also added that Cheong had apparently fallen victim to entrapment by an intermediary as he was trying to obtain recordings of secret interviews with the former Prime Minister.

[4] In June 2005, the Hong Kong Journalists Association and Reporters Without Borders organised a petition calling for Cheong's immediate release from unfair detention.

The petition, containing more than 13,000 signatures, was sent to Hu Jintao, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China.

On 22 February 2006, the prosecutor in charge of Cheong's case decided to send his file back to the State Security Department for further investigation.

[citation needed] On 1 September 2006, Cheong's wife reported that her husband had called the verdict "very unfair" and vowed to appeal the sentence.