A leading academic has accused his publisher of effectively ditching a book about Chinese government influence inside Australia because of fears of a backlash from Beijing. But he told CNN that publisher Allen & Unwin suddenly informed him last week that it would be delaying the book for an unspecified period after being warned it could face legal action by China. Related: World's biggest academic book publisher bows to China's censorsHamilton said another Allen & Unwin employee told him verbally that Gorman had decided to abandon publishing the book entirely. Related: Cambridge University Press reverses 'shameful' China censorshipIt isn't the first time a major publisher has come under fire over its handling of content about China. A spokeswoman for Springer Nature said that while the decision was "deeply regrettable," it only affected about 1% of the company's academic content.

Source: CNN November 13, 2017 08:41 UTC