Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong-based correspondent for Singapore's The Straits Times newspaper, saw his wife, Mary Lau, for half an hour on Friday, the paper reported.

Ching was sentenced to five years in prison after a one-day trial in August on charges he was spying for Taiwan. A Chinese court rejected his appeal in late November.

Lau, who was accompanied by Ching's elder brother and younger sister, said her husband cried when he saw them, and asked them to look after his parents, who are in their 80's.

"He looked healthy, even though he has a lot more wrinkles now, especially across his forehead, and is so skinny now," Lau was quoted as saying from Hong Kong. "He also asked us how we were doing, and told us not to worry about him. I am just so relieved to have seen him at last."

Lau said the visit, just ahead of the Lunar New Year, came as a surprise because Chinese authorities had previously told her she would not be allowed to visit him before March, the report said. "I almost could not believe my ears when I heard it. For a while, I did not know how to react, and I could not sleep much that night as I was looking forward to seeing Ching," Lau was quoted as saying.

The couple had not seen each other since April 2005, when Ching was detained in the southern city of Guangzhou by mainland security, the paper said. Ching is now serving his sentence in a prison in China's southern Guangdong province.

Lau said she was still appealing to the Chinese government to grant her husband medical parole. She said earlier that Ching, 57, suffers from insomnia and stomach pains.

China's official Xinhua news agency had reported Ching was convicted of selling unspecified "state secrets and intelligence" to an unnamed Taiwanese foundation, which it said was a front for Taiwanese espionage activities on the mainland.

Ching's supporters insist he is innocent and that there is no real evidence to prove the charge of spying.

The high-profile prosecution came amid efforts by China's communist government to tighten controls on the media even though other parts of society are rapidly opening up. Dozens of reporters and Internet essayists have been jailed, often on charges of violating China's vague secrecy and security laws.