Huang Wei, 42, who arrived in Hong Kong Wednesday, said in a Commercial Radio interview that Hong Kong media accusations are groundless and unfair to both Ching and herself.

She said she did not know about Ching's arrest until she received a call from one of his friends when she returned to her hometown in Hunan province in June - weeks after Ching had been arrested by National Security Bureau officers in Guangzhou and held under house arrest in Beijing.

Ching, 55, was formally charged with spying last Friday.

State news agency Xinhua said Ching spied for Taiwan and had gathered top-secret and confidential political, economic and military information about the mainland since 2000.

Xinhua said he had received millions of Hong Kong dollars from Taiwan's national security bureau for his spying activities.

Earlier this week, a few Hong Kong newspapers, citing mainland sources, alleged Ching had kept a mistress in Shenzhen since 2002, and identified the woman as Huang.

Huang was also the last person that Ching met before his arrest in Guangzhou on April 22, when he received a manuscript containing an interview with the late Chinese leader Zhao Qiyang, the reports said.

The local reports went on to allege that Ching rushed to Shenzhen after receiving a call from Huang, who formerly worked for a Shenzhen publisher.

They also claimed Huang had received financial assistance from Ching after she became unemployed.

The reports allege that Huang, who was arrested by national security officers after the pair's meeting, had cooperated with national security officers to lure Ching to Shenzhen.

But in Thursday's radio interview, Huang told a different story, saying Ching was just a friend.

``We are just ordinary friends and I was asked by my colleague to give him a book when we first met in May last year. We have only met three times, including that first occasion,'' she said.

``Why should Ching support my son and I?'' she asked, adding: ``We are just ordinary friends and all these claims never happened.''

Huang said she became aware of allegations made in the local media only on Tuesday when her boss, who was not identified, told her about them.

She said she felt outraged as she had never been approached by any reporter seeking confirmation of the allegations.

``After I arrived in Hong Kong and read all these reports, I became extremely angry as these reports are all nonsense and just figments of the reporters' imagination,'' she said.

``I hope they can be more sensible as these accusations have been very unfair to both Ching and I.''

Huang confirmed she had met Ching on April 20 and that she had telephoned him before then to find out whether he could help her to find a job in Hong Kong.

She explained that it became hard for her to find work in Shenzhen as public security officers were constantly questioning her over her role in the publication of a Zhao-related book late last year.

Ching returned her call a few days later and they agreed to meet in a cafe in Shenzhen on April 20, Huang said.

``During the meeting, he said his work was keeping him fully occupied and he advised me to look for other possible jobs in Shenzhen,'' she said.

``He then left in a hurry and returned to Hong Kong. I took a bus and returned to my office.''

In another interview with Yazhou Zhoukan, Huang said she was detained by the security bureaus in both Guangdong and Hunan for a month in February and later desperately sought Ching's help to find a job in Hong Kong.

``If I were really Ching's mistress, owned an apartment and received millions of dollars, my life would not have been difficult. In fact, I would really prefer to be that `mistress,''' she said.

She also told the magazine that, after her boss had informed her about the mistress reports Tuesday, she decided to travel to Hong Kong the next day.

She insisted she knew nothing about Ching's arrest until she returned to Hunan in June to attend a ceremony.

``Public security officers did not approach me before June and, even after I got to know about his arrest, I was called by public security officers a couple of times, but they never mentioned anything about Ching's arrest,''she said.

Mak Chai-ming, who was Ching's University of Hong Kong schoolmate and who has been his friend for more than 30 years, said Thursday night he believed Ching was honest and not a philanderer.

``Huang Wei's clarification has underlined what I always believed about Ching's personality,'' he said, adding he believed the media reports were fabricated.michael.ng@singtaonewscorp.com