Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations and Co-Chair of the China Commission, issued the following statement on Wednesday on U.S. airlines censoring Taiwan from their company websites:

"It is unacceptable for the Chinese government to require U.S. airlines to remove Taiwan from their websites.  The U.S. needs to push back against this type of economic coercion & censorship. I urge U.S. carriers not to succumb to Beijing's 'Orwellian nonsense.'  We must always stand with democratic allies like Taiwan and we must continue to raise our strategic game to address the challenge posed by an increasingly authoritarian China to U.S. interests and values globally."