Outrage in China over senior official's luxury spending claims

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese social media websites erupted in outrage on Wednesday over claims that a provincial official tried to suppress a newspaper report detailing his expensive tastes in luxury accessories.

Microblog users claimed that tens of thousands of copies of a daily newspaper were destroyed on Monday after they carried a report about the senior official in the government of the south-eastern province of Fujian.

Users posted the alleged report from the City Times, which claimed that Li Dejin, director of the Fujian provincial communications department, owned a 50,000 yuan (S$9,700) Rado watch and 15,000 yuan Hermes belt.

The newspaper is based in the south-western city of Kunming in Yunnan province.