China Opposes Democracy As It Bans Hillary Clinton’s “Hard Choices” Memoir, When Will The Chinese Government Allow Intellectual Freedom?

China strongly banned 'Hard Choices', the memoir created by the former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as it is believed to contain critical remarks to the said country.

Chinese publishers reportedly refused the production of Hillary Clinton's new book after it details her critical views of the country's leadership and even policies both in international and domestic levels. China's ban for Hard Choices has been effective when Clinton criticized the country's stand when it comes to democracy and when she detailed its treatment to the human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng.

According to Jonathan Karp, the president of Simon and Schuster publishing, the Chinese publishers declined to the translation rights of the memoir. Included in those publishers is one of China's largest import agencies known as the Shanghai Book Traders who strongly refused to distribute Hard Choices' English copies even though it has been a best-seller abroad. The publishing companies seem to be extra careful since the Chinese authorities are very strict when it comes to screening foreign books and that they are the ones controlling the publishing industry.

The Chinese government is definitely upset and totally unhappy with Clinton's book that it was totally banned to be produced in its premises. Clinton's memoir reportedly talked about the country's contradictions particularly of the democratic rights. Her memoir Hard Choices has been actually her tool for expressing her strong disapproval of China's regime.

TIME reportedly cited several reasons that made the Chinese government ban Clinton's memoir as it could possibly stain their reputation. Included in Clinton's book was her statement regarding how the Chinese authorities made an effort to censor her speech in the internet. She stated that there were censors that tried to erase her message in the net.

As China banned 'Hard Choices' to be further disseminated in the country, Jonathan Karp viewed it as a clear indication of how low is the intellectual freedom in the country. "And it's a pretty clear indication of the low level of intellectual freedom in China right now." Karp said.