Chinese government: overseas publications must comply to local regulations

China’s State Council Information Office has stated that ‘All publications imported into the Chinese market must accord with Chinese laws and regulations‘, after Springer Nature – a major western scientific publisher – blocked access to some of its content in China. The articles that were blocked contained key words as Taiwan, Tibet and Cultural Revolution. According to Springer Nature, it had to comply with specific regulations to avoid being banned from distributing all its content in China. Earlier this year, Cambridge University Press removed 300 papers and book reviews from its Chinese website. The publisher later reversed this decision after criticism from academics.