Clinton Book Faces 'Effective Ban' in China

Move shows 'low level of intellectual freedom': Simon & Schuster president
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 27, 2014 11:22 AM CDT
Clinton Book Faces 'Effective Ban' in China
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton greets a young girl at a book signing for her new book "Hard Choices."   (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Chinese audiences won't get a chance to read Hillary Clinton's, um, glowing remarks on the country in her new memoir. Chinese publishers have passed on the translation rights to Hard Choices—which criticizes China as the "epicenter of the antidemocratic movement in Asia"—and the English version won't be circulating either. One of China’s largest import agencies, Shanghai Book Traders, won't approve it for distribution, BuzzFeed reports. One day after the book was released in the US, it was also removed from China's Amazon site.

The move amounts to an "effective ban" that's "outrageous and unfortunate," Simon & Schuster president Jonathan Karp says. "It really is about a Chinese business fearing the wrath of the Chinese government," he adds, "and it’s a pretty clear indication of the low level of intellectual freedom in China right now." Hard Choices also discusses China's censorship practices and Clinton dedicates an entire chapter to her efforts on behalf of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng. Though executives didn't even get to the negotiating table with China, Karp notes Hard Choices had done well in nearly every major international market. (More Hard Choices stories.)

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