China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has voiced its support for journalists' rights of supervision after police in an east China county wrongly issued an arrest warrant for a journalist.

"News organizations have the right to know, interview, cover, criticize and monitor events regarding national and public interests. Journalistic activities by news organizations and their reporters are protected by law," read a statement posted on the GAPP's website.

The statement came after police of Suichang County in Zhejiang Province canceled a warrant for Qiu Ziming, a reporter of the Economic Observer News, who was accused of defamation by a publicly listed company.

Qiu had previously been wanted by the police of Suichang after Zhejiang Kan Specialty Material Co., Ltd. (Kan) accused him of defaming the company with fabricated stories.

However, police of Lishui City, which administers Suichang, ordered the county's public security bureau to cancel the warrant for Qiu after a review found the warrant failed to meet statutory requirements.

Police officials said earlier Friday that the investigation into allegations of defamation against Qiu and his newspaper would continue.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2010)