Cambridge University Press blocked access to more than 300 articles at the request of Chinese censors

Almaty. August 21. Silkroadnews – One of the largest Western publishers Cambridge University Press blocked access to more than 300 articles at the request of Chinese censors, the US Internet portal “Inside Higher Ed” wrote.
“In a major concession to Chinese government censors, Cambridge University Press blocked access in China to more than 300 articles and reviews in the journal The China Quarterly, which Cambridge publishes. Many of the articles that were censored have titles that touch on sensitive issues in China, such as the massacre at Tiananmen Square and the pro-democracy movement, the Cultural Revolution, the restive Xinjiang region, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet”, the report said.
Cambridge University Press distributed a statement explaining the reasons for the block saying “we can confirm that we received an instruction from a Chinese import agency to block individual articles from The China Quarterly within China. We complied with this initial request to remove individual articles, to ensure that other academic and educational materials we publish remain available to researchers and educators in this market”.
The statement also notes, that according to information from Cambridge University Press, entire collections of content of other publishers who refused to comply with a similar request blocked in China.
“We are aware that other publishers have had entire collections of content blocked in China until they have enabled the import agencies to block access to individual articles”, the statement said.
It is noted that a letter from the editor of “The China Quarterly” widely spread in social networks said about China’s request to block access to more than 1,000 electronic books.
Scientific community sharply criticized actions by Cambridge University Press, accusing the publisher of choosing commercial interests rather than academic freedom. At the same time, it is noted that the last annual report of the publication said of achieving “double-digit year-on-year growth in China for the last five years through close collaboration with Chinese publishers, large private education service providers, leading foreign language schools and new education technology companies”.
Cambridge University Press has many lines of business, and it is not clear whether double-digit growth refers only to the publisher’s English-language teaching business (as data on double-digit growth were published in this section).
In its turn, the Chinese newspaper The Global Times noted, the number of readers of the blocked materials is so insignificant that blocking can hardly have any significant impact, while the overseas publishers should respect the rules and standards applied in China in case the Chinese market is of real interest for them.