Free speech fears after book critical of China is pulled from publication

Australian publisher Allen & Unwin has ditched a book on Chinese Communist Party influence in Australian politics and academia, citing fear of legal action from the Chinese government or its proxies.

The publisher's chief executive, Robert Gorman, said last week that it would abandon publication of a completed manuscript by Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University, called Silent Invasion: How China Is Turning Australia into a Puppet State.

Australian publisher Allen & Unwin has ditched a Clive Hamilton book on Chinese Communist Party's influence in Australian politics and academia, citing fear of legal action from the Chinese government or its proxies.
"We have no doubt that Silent Invasion is an extremely significant book," Mr Gorman wrote in a confidential email to Dr Hamilton on November 8.

But Mr Gorman said in the email, which has been obtained by Fairfax Media, that he was concerned about "potential threats to the book and the company from possible action by Beijing".

He said the "most serious of these threats was the very high chance of a vexatious defamation action against Allen & Unwin, and possibly against you personally as well".

Allen & Unwin was "an obvious target" for "Beijing's agents of influence", Mr Gorman wrote.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/free-speech-fears-after-book-critical-of-china-is-pulled-from-publication-20171112-gzjiyr.html

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