China Condemns Award for 'NY Times' Researcher

By: China on Thursday condemned a press freedom group for awarding a prize to a Chinese researcher for The New York Times under investigation on suspicion of leaking state secrets.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday that Zhao Yan had won in a category honoring ``journalists who, through their work, attitude or principled stands, have shown a strong commitment to press freedom.''

But Qin Gang, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, questioned whether the award would ``encourage journalists to steal secrets from other nations and commit fraud.''

``This human rights organization awards him for being a hero for press freedom. What is the motivation?'' Qin said at a regular briefing.

Zhao, who worked for the Times' Beijing bureau, has been held since September 2004. His case was handed over to prosecutors in May.

It is believed that Zhao was under investigation as the possible source for a report last year by the Times about former President Jiang Zemin's plan to give up a key military post.

A document given to Zhao's family said he was suspected of ``illegally providing state secrets to foreigners'' but gave no details of what was allegedly disclosed.

Qin indicated the prize was given at a bad time - when Zhao's case was being examined by prosecutors. ``At this moment, they award him with such a prize. Doesn't that constitute interference with China's judicial process?''

Last month, Robert Menard, the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, asked President Bush to intercede on behalf of China's jailed journalists and dissidents during his visit to Beijing.

Menard's letter asked Bush to stress the case of Zhao, who had worked for the magazine China Reform and was well known for exposing official abuses.

The letter said at least 30 journalists and dissidents who ran underground newspapers are detained in China. Additionally, at least 60 people are in detention there for creating Web sites or otherwise expressing themselves on the Internet.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, China was the world's leading jailer of reporters for the sixth consecutive year in 2004, with most of the 42 detained journalists by year's end held under vaguely worded national security or subversion laws.