CHINESE officials are continuing to deny senior staff of Ming Pao newspaper access to reporter Xi Yang, detained this week on spying charges, and have refused to say why they are holding him.
Ming Pao Executive Chief Editor Paul Cheung Kin-bor said that after two days of talks with Chinese officials in Beijing, he had failed to ascertain any details of Xi's arrest.
A Chinese State Security Bureau official, whom Mr Cheung met on Tuesday just after flying to Beijing, said the investigation was still going on, so he could reveal nothing about the details of the case, Mr Cheung said.
Yesterday, Mr Cheung met officials of the State Council's Information Office, the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, and the All-China Journalists' Association, which handles Hong Kong journalists working on the mainland.
He asked those officials to explain to the State Security Bureau that as a reporter, it was Xi's job to seek information.
Those officials promised to pass on his views, but provided no new clues as to why Xi was being held.
''Probing is a common practice of most of the Hong Kong people, but probing isn't allowed here,'' Mr Cheung said last night.