e pur si muove

Today ¨bergeek feature comes from the cutting edge of nanomaterials science, where analytical chemistry vies with materials scientists for territorial claim. The paper in today’s Nature, innocuously entitled Field regulation of single-molecule conductivity by a charged surface atom, claims to be the first report of a truly molecular switch. By applying an external voltage, electrons can be forced through the molecular bridge, or not at all.

I would comment more, except I am suddenly feeling really tired. Maybe after I return from my Chicago trip this weekend.

Normally I would link to a popular science rewrite or press release, but most of those out there covering this article wax lyrical on all sorts of futuristic nonsence based on thousands of applications of this undeveloped result. Computers which would run for weeks without recharging, yada yada.

Following up from my earlier post, Ching Cheong (程翔), ST’s highly respected China correspondent, has been detained on espionage charges. Since his wife Mary Lau broke the news to the AFP three days ago, the world’s attention has been riveted to this news event. Lau has yet to be informed formally of her husband’s arrest.

Here’s the scoop, as compiled from various sources (see also From A Singapore Angle [1] [2] [3], and Singapore Ink, and references therein):

Ching Cheong was nominally in Guangzhou for a rendezvous with a source to obtain secret papers relating to the dismissal of Zhao Ziyang from the Communist Party. Alarmingly, Ching Cheong’s supposed contact, retired Communist Party official Zong Fengming, alleges that he did not arrange to give the alleged sensitive documents to Cheong, speculating that “it was a trap set for him by someone else.” Ching’s wife, Mary Lau, indignantly agrees with the trap scenario, pointing to the Chinese government’s pressure on him to not publish his memoirs, in which he had transcribed conversations with the late Zhao Ziyang.

Ching was apparently supposed to meet with an intermediary who would have arranged to send him a copy of the sensitive manuscript after several failed attempts to email it to him.

Zong speculates that the arrest was an attempt to expunge Zhao Ziyang from the memories of the Chinese people. Zhao opposed the use of force in the Tiananmen Square massacre and was subsequently placed under house arrest until his death in January. Tom Legg (Dai Tou Laam) speculates on the possible release of said manuscripts on the Chinese black market.

Ching currently faces charges of “spying for foreign agencies” and is accused of receiving “spying fees”, charges that Mary Lau indignantly denies, and has SPH (his employer) shocked. The Chinese government alleges that Ching Cheong had confessed to be a spy.

The Chinese authorities have denied Mary Lau and SPH visits to Ching Cheong while he is in custody. SPH is currently seeking legal advice. Legal eagles worry about his languishing in jail for months before due process kicks in. If convicted, he may be liable for the death penalty. Ex-judge Wong Yau Kam called for giving Ching Cheong a fair trial, citing the ambiguity between interpreting information gathering activities as espionage v. journalism.

‘Domestic’ reactions to the detainment of Ching Cheong is perhaps sanguine to the situation at hand. Ching Cheong was for some reason speculated to be a Taiwanese spy, an allegation the Taiwanese Mainland Affairs Council hotly denies. The Taiwanese Ministry for National Defense, on the other hand, gave no comment. The Hong Kong Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee expresses concern but laments that Hong Kong is unable to intervene in Mainland judicial affairs due to the current ‘one country, two systems policy’.

In perhaps related news, it was revealed today that two members of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences were also arrested for allegedly leaking state secrets. Eight months earlier, a researcher for the New York Times was also taken into custody on similar charges.

Journalist rights groups are outraged, with many newpapers voicing their concerns. Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders) is circulating an online petition calling for Ching Cheong’s release from custody. The Asia Pacific Media Network comments on how ethic Chinese reporters are at much greater risk of arrest than their non-Chinese counterparts. The International Federation of Journalists expresses ‘grave concerns’.

China has currently detained 42 journalists, despite requiring all licensed journalists to undergo what Simon’s World calls “a week-long brainwashing course.”