Hillary Clinton's New Book, Hard Choices, is Effectively Banned in China

Posted on June 30, 2014

Hillary Clinton's new book, Hard Choices, has been effectively banned in China. BuzzFeed reports that no Chinese publisher would touch the political memoir, due to fears of the Chinese government censors. Simon and Schuster's Jonathan Karp confirmed that the publishers are cowed by the government and are fearful of reprisals for publishing a book which dares to criticize the Chinese government.

Clinton's last book, Living History, did come out in China, but the Chinese publishers made massive, unauthorized changes to the book. A furious Simon and Schuster pulled the book from China to stop the inaccurate copies from circulating.

In the book former Secretary of State Clinton discusses foreign policy in some depth. She discusses how world leaders deal with major challenges and China is no exception. Secretary Clinton is a big champion of human and civil rights and spends time in the book discussing the case of the blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng who sought asylum in the U.S. in 2012. The Chinese government has always been unhappy when Secretary Clinton insists on discussing human rights during her speeches.

The book is available for sale in Hong Kong and in Taiwan. Secretary Clinton has been on a book tour in the U.S. for Hard Choices. One of her stops was at the Books & Co. store in Dayton, Ohio. Books & Co. is owned by Books-A-Million.