A Beijing court is expected to rule shortly in the case of Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong-based journalist charged with carrying out espionage on the mainland for a foreign power. On past form, the verdict is a foregone conclusion: he will be found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment. Any other outcome would be an astonishing departure from China's history of punishing journalists who fall foul of its ­authorities.

The case has so far followed an all-too-familiar pattern. Mr Ching has spent 16 months in detention and was charged four months after his arrest, after supposedly making a "confession". No evidence for the charges against him has been published and his one-day trial, from which his family was barred, was staged in secrecy. Indeed, Beijing has refused to confirm that it has happened at all.