China Thursday scolded the U.N. cultural agency for awarding a prize to a jailed Chinese reporter for her commitment to a free press and warned it could hamper the country's relations with the agency.
UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said it awarded its annual press freedom prize to Gao Yu because she lost "her own freedom for her commitment to media independence."But the 53-year-old Gao was convicted of breaking Chinese laws and her case "is not an issue of media freedom," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said. He accused the U.N. body of exceeding its authority and of interfering in China's internal affairs.
"This will definitely affect our cooperative relations," Shen said, though he did not specify how ties would be harmed.