The following are excerpts of Co-Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ)’s opening statement at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)’s April 16th hearing, entitled “Dark Nets, Illicit Labor—Confronting China’s IUU Fishing and Seafood Supply Chain”: I want to recognize and thank Co-Chair Sullivan for his leadership on this issue and his long record of fighting to protect the American seafood industry and American fishermen. In fact, on March 24, 2026, the Senate unanimously passed Co-Chair... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), today co-led a congressional hearing on China’s illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices, which distort seafood markets, harm American fishermen, undermine law and order, enable human rights abuses, and threaten national security. “From the earliest days of seafaring, the oceans have been governed not only by currents and commerce, but by rules—rules that distinguish lawful navigation... Read more

By El Salvador News Published April 16, 2026 During a tense congressional hearing on human rights, Representative Chris Smith confronted witnesses from El Faro and Cristosal over their refusal to label MS-13 as a terrorist organization. Smith noted that the U.S. has officially designated the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization to better interdict their funding and violent operations. When asked directly if they agreed with this designation, journalist Sergio Arauz and director Noah Bullock... Read more

By El Salvador News Published April 16, 2026 U.S. Representative Chris Smith has issued a definitive defense of El Salvador’s current security transformation, asserting that the country’s progress can only be measured by looking back at its decades of bloodshed. Smith, a veteran advocate for global human rights, noted that any honest assessment of the nation must begin with the undeniable fact that daily life has been fundamentally altered for the better. The congressman drew from his extensive ... Read more

On Thursday, April 16th, the co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)—Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK)—will delve into the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s subsidized and aggressive use of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices. “Dark Nets, Illicit Labor—Confronting China’s IUU Fishing and Seafood Supply Chain,” which will mark the CECC’s second hearing on the PRC’s unethical fishing practices in under three years, will furt... Read more

By The Catholic Herald Published April 12, 2026 at 11:40 AM A senior US congressman and a prominent human rights advocate have renewed criticism of the Vatican for hosting one of China’s top transplant officials at a 2017 conference on organ trafficking, arguing that the Holy See should now take a clearer public stand against Beijing’s alleged forced organ harvesting. The criticism came at a Hudson Institute event in Washington on 9 April focused on new evidence concerning organ harvesting in Ch... Read more

By Jenna Lee Published April 12, 2026 At The Heritage Foundation, policy experts recently exposed how China is murdering innocents for organ harvesting. The April 7 event, titled “Organ Harvesting: Communist China’s Hideous Shop of Horrors,” featured Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., a panel of senior research fellows, and Jan Jekielek, senior editor of The Epoch Times and the host of “American Thought Leaders.” The speakers discussed reports of forced organ harvesting in China and the implication... Read more

By Kurt Zindulka Published April 11, 2026 Republican lawmakers in the United States have accused the European Union of intervening to subvert Hungary’s democratic process, putting its thumb on the scale against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as he seeks re-election on Sunday. New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith and Maryland Representative Andy Harris wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — who controls the unelected federal branch of the European Union — accusing Brussels of us... Read more

By Jason Allentoff Published April 11, 2026 TOMS RIVER – Nearly six decades after being wounded in combat during the Vietnam War, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran has finally received long-overdue recognition for his service. Cpl. Leo Perlmutter was injured during the Tet Offensive in January 1968, when North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched widespread attacks against U.S. and South Vietnamese troops. Amid incoming mortar fire, a blast struck near his position. “I didn’t even know I was hit,”... Read more

Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Andy Harris, M.D. (R-MD) strongly criticized the European Commission for its unprecedented, undemocratic interference in Hungary’s upcoming elections. In a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, Smith and Harris argue that the EU Commission’s anti-democratic actions “raise serious concerns regarding the boundary between legitimate EU oversight and authoritarian political intervention” and are “deeply destructive of public confidenc... Read more