Murdoch did not agree with many of Patten's positions on Hong Kong, "which he thought abrogated promises made by the previous government," the statement said.
"It was always clear that if we did not publish it, the book would be snatched up by any number of other publishers".
"As is well known, the editors of News Corp. publications are free to express their opinions and often have been critical of the Chinese as well as other governments where we operate."
The book, which now is to be published in September in the United States and Britain by rival publisher Macmillan, is believed to contain explicit criticism of the Chinese government and its human rights record. It also reportedly makes unflattering comments about other authoritarian Asian regimes.
Patten had a strained relationship with China's leadership for much of his five years as governor. Beijing regularly criticized him.
Apart from extensive business interests in Britain and the United States, Murdoch also controls STAR, a satellite TV station based in Hong Kong.
Murdoch broke off a contract with the British Broadcasting Corp. in 1994 to show the BBC's World News channel on STAR after China's government complained. STAR broadcasts into several southern China cable TV stations.
The Daily Telegraph, a broadsheet rival to Murdoch's Times of London, reported that a Jan. 20 internal memo between senior executives of two Murdoch publishing companies confirmed Murdoch's opposition to publishing Patten's book.
"The more I have thought about this, the more concerned I have become. In fact, I am extremely worried.
KRM (Murdoch) has outlined to me the negative aspects of lubrication, which I fully understand," Edward Bell, the London-based chairman of HarperCollins UK, wrote to Anthea Disney, chairwoman of News America publishing, HarperCollins' parent company.
News America, based in New York, is a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp.
Details of the memo came from a legal declaration made by Start Profit, senior publisher of the main division of HarperCollins, who is suing the company for unfair dismissal over the affair, The Daily telegraph reported.
Proffitt said he negotiated the US$200,000 contract with Patten to publish his book. (2)
