Police in northeast China have travelled nearly 1,000 kilometers to subpoena a Beijing reporter over a story they say libelled a local Communist Party chief, a move described by Internet users as outrageous.

Under Chinese law, libel is a civil offense, not a crime, outside the realm of police unless it "seriously jeopardizes social order or national interests."

Zhu Wenna, a reporter for Faren magazine, published a story on January 1 indicating illegal dealings and heavy-handed measures by Zhang Zhiguo, Party chief of Xifeng County in the northeast province of Liaoning, against a critic, The Beijing News said yesterday.

Zhang had ordered the jailing of a woman for libel for sending a satirical text message alleging corruption after her gas station was demolished to make way for a market with meager compensation, according to Zhu's report.

Two Xifeng officials travelled 900 kilometers to visit Zhu's editors in Beijing on Friday, demanding the magazine, affiliated to the Legal Daily newspaper, issue a "clarification" for the "unfounded" report, The Beijing News said.

"Three policemen from Xifeng broke into the room just as I rejected the officials' request, showing a subpoena for Zhu on suspicion of libel," it quoted Faren's chief editor, Wang Fengbin, as saying.

The four pages of comments on the Website of the People's Daily were almost unanimously critical of the Xifeng officials, with some calling Zhang a "local emperor."

"Who has given the Party chief this power and made him so blatant?" asked one commentator.

Xifeng officials also accused Zhu of not using any balancing comments from local government departments.

"There isn't a single word of truth in her report, which has seriously damaged Xifeng's image and defamed me maliciously," Zhang, the Party boss, was quoted as saying.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2008)