Juergen Kremb is the second journalist to be expelled from China since October

The German journalist, Juergen Kremb, was said to be in possession of large quantities of secret documents when his office in Beijing was raided on Tuesday.

Mr Kremb said he believed he had never seen the documents he was accused of possessing.

A spokesman for the foreign ministry in Beijing said Juergen Kremb had been ordered to leave China within 48 hours.

Germany 'astonished'

In Bonn, the German Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador to express its astonishment over the expulsion order.

A spokeswoman said Germany was still studying how to proceed in the case.

Mr Kremb, who recently relocated to Singapore after eight years in Beijing, had returned to the Chinese capital on Tuesday for what was to be his final reporting trip.

Shortly after he arrived, he said, eight people came to his office with a search warrant issued by China's Ministry of State Security.

'Four-hour ordeal'

Mr Kremb said he was made to stand against the wall for four hours and filmed while the officials searched his office.

He said they showed him documents, which they said were state secrets, and asked him to sign a confession saying he had violated Chinese law.

Mr Kremb refused and was ordered not to leave Beijing. On Wednesday, the officials returned and told him he was being expelled.

Close links with dissidents

Mr Kremb, who last year published a book about the prominent Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, has been detained in the past. He described the move as a set-up designed as a show of strength timed shortly before he was to leave the country.

His expulsion follows that of a Japanese journalist last month who was also accused of being in possession of state secrets.

Mr Kremb said he believed the authorities might be anxious following a resurgence of dissident activity in recent months. But he added that he had in fact been planning to report on a jazz festival and the opening of the new German embassy in Beijing.