A Chinese newspaper has furiously condemned Guns N' Roses over the title of their latest album - Chinese Democracy - claiming it is an attack on their nation.

The Global Times, which is published by the country's ruling Communist party, ran an article under the headline "American band releases album venomously attacking China" and said it was part of a western plot to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn".

The long-awaited album had been in the pipeline since 1994 and was finally released on Sunday to mixed reviews.

Though it is not thought to be legally on sale in China, Chinese Democracy is being streamed on the band's official MySpace site and can be bought online. China's notorious internet censors were said to be trying to block access to the band's official website earlier today.

The album takes its title from the opening track, which Axl Rose described in 2001 as "not necessarily pro or con about China". He told an audience in Las Vegas: "It's just that right now China symbolises one of the strongest, yet most oppressive countries and governments in the world. And we [Americans] are fortunate to live in a free country."

The song itself refers to the Falun Gong meditation movement, which was banned in 1999. It has been alleged that the Chinese government has been responsible for persecuting and torturing its members.

The Chinese government has not made an official statement about the Guns N' Roses album.