After global outrage, the
Cambridge University Press (CUP) has reversed its decision to bow to the
Chinese censorship pressure. On August 18, the news came that following a
Chinese diktat, the prestigious publisher had blocked 315 articles in China
that the China’s ruling elite considered inimical to their interests. The
articles were published over many years in its academic journal The China
Quarterly and covered issues like China’s Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen
protests and so on.
According to the CUP release,
the decision to block the content was a temporary one and was reluctantly taken
and after the University level review, the CUP as well as the University of
Cambridge decided to reinstate the blocked article with immediate effect.
“Therefore, while this
temporary decision was taken in order to protect short-term access in China to
the vast majority of the Press’s journal articles, the University’s academic
leadership and the Press have agreed to reinstate the blocked content, with immediate
effect, so as to uphold the principle of academic freedom on which the
University’s work is founded”, the Washington Post wrote quoting the CUP
release.
The said articles in question
were on issues which the ruling Chinese Communist Party treat as taboo and does
all in its capacity to obliterate them from public access – Tiananmen, Cultural
Revolution, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, a email from Tim Pringle,
The China Quarterly’s editor read.
The Chinese ruling elite had
threatened to block CUP website in China if it didn’t comply with its demands.
According to Tim Pringle, it was not the first Chinese demand. Before this, the
Chinese had come with a similar diktat to block content of over a thousand
e-books, a report in Quartz said.
After the news came to light,
the CUP did try to clear its position by issuing a statement where it said that
“it will not change the nature of its publishing to make content acceptable in
China and was troubled by the recent increase in requests of this nature.”
“We complied with the 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 further said in a clear indication that the CUP
had started feeling heat of its decision to bowing to the Chinese pressure and
was seriously considering alternatives.
The step by the CUP to block
articles on Chinese demand had drawn global condemnation and. It was derided as
a shameful decision. A petition on Change.org signed by academics and
intellectuals on Monday demanded a resolute stand before the Chinese pressure
or else the CUP may face a global boycott of its publications by academics, The
Guardian reported. Even some in the Chinese intelligentsia also criticised the
decision, “I’m left with the feeling that there is absolutely no escape since
every single breath on Earth belongs to the king”, The Guardian wrote quoting
Chinese novelist Li Jingrui.
©SantoshChaubey
