In one of its favors to the Chinese government, Amazon Inc. deleted and disabled ratings, comments, and reviews on President Xi Jinping’s book, “The Governance of China”, that sheds light on his doctrine of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.
Amazon took action about two years ago but it wasn't covered until Reuters released a "special report" last Friday. In its report, Reuters mentioned that the government demand was triggered by reviews rating the work at less than the maximum five stars, according to one of the unidentified people familiar with the incident.
The report also stated that in 2018 the company was receiving “an increasing number of requests from (Chinese) watchdogs to remove certain content, mainly politically sensitive content.”
The book has been published in several languages, including Pashto, Dari, Sinhala, Hindi, and English. However, reviews are blocked only on Amazon’s Chinese website. One Amazon.com entry has received 74% five-star reviews.
This is similar to how Apple Inc. has become extremely obedient to Beijing in recent years. The report further states that Apple complied with nearly 97% of Chinese government requests for user device information in 2019.
Other U.S. firms, such as Yahoo! and Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn, have, by contrast, exited the Chinese market this year, citing an increasingly challenging business and legal environment in the country.
