GOVERNOR Chris Patten urged China to spell out its regulations on reporting in an effort to remove concerns over the jailing of Xi Yang.
Ming Pao reporter Xi's appeal against conviction and 12-year sentence was rejected on Friday, sparking an angry reaction in Hong Kong and a mass protest on Sunday - one of the largest in recent years.
The Governor said yesterday that Hong Kong people's anxieties were ''very, very real and very, very profound''.
He echoed calls made by the Chief Secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang for China to specify regulations journalists had to follow when they were covering events in China.
Xi was jailed for ''stealing state financial secrets''.
Mr Patten said that aside from how the case was handled, the ''wholly disproportionate'' sentence worried Hong Kong people.
''I hope that Chinese officials understand why there is so much worry in Hong Kong about this case,'' he said.