Cambridge U-turns to defy Chinese censors
CAMBRIDGE University Press has backed down over a China censorship row, after announcing last night that it has reversed its decision to take down hundreds of articles.
The world’s oldest publishing house was accused of placing profit over academic freedom, after it agreed to block online access in China.
Last week it emerged that CUP had removed online papers covering a range of topics disliked by Beijing, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibet and human rights.
Tim Pringle, the editor of The China Quarterly, the publication which carried the articles, said he had not been consulted about the censorship and urged CUP to push back against the Chinese authorities.
The publisher conceded it had responded to demands from Beijing, but pledged not to “proactively” censor its contents in future. It is understood, however, that CUP has also voluntarily removed 1,000 ebooks from its site.
The publisher’s U-turn came amid a growing backlash and the threat of having its journals boycotted. Mr Pringle said that following a meeting with CUP representatives, it “intends to repost immediately the articles removed from its website in China”.
A petition launched by Christopher Balding, an American political economist and associate professor at Beijing University, attracted more than 700 signatures from academics in the US, Europe and the Far East. It called on CUP to “refuse the censorship request not just for The China Quarterly but on any other topics, journals or publication that have been requested by the Chinese government”.