ABA Tells Congress It Didn’t Cave to Chinese Government

After facing questions from two members of Congress last week, the ABA is insisting its cancellation of a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer’s book deal was purely a business decision.

On Monday, the ABA sent a letter to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) defending its decision last year to retract an offer to publish a book written by Teng Biao on China’s human rights lawyers. The letter cited low sales forecasts as the reason the offer was rescinded.

The book, tentatively titled “Darkness Before Dawn,” reportedly examines the oppression of Chinese human rights legal community, which has long been at odds with the Chinese government ...