Chinese Seize Books With Clinton Photos
Customs agents in China have seized 16,000 copies of a book of photographs of President Clinton because one picture showed the Dalai Lama clutching his hand, a company involved in the book’s publishing said Monday.
Beijing considers the exiled Dalai Lama a symbol of opposition to its control of Tibet.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker said Monday that if the report of the seizure is true, “it is most disturbing.”
The book was printed in Hong Kong and sent to Shenzhen in southern China for binding, said a spokesman for Palace Press International, which handled the work for New York-based publisher Callaway Editions.
The shipment of 16,000 books was seized early this month, said the spokesman, who declined to give his name because of the sensitivities of the company’s business in China.
An official from China’s State Press and Publications Administration confirmed that copies had been seized but said it was because the book had not been submitted for approval in advance.
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