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Air Canada’s acquiescence to China’s censorship over websites hosted in Canada is discouraging. This is, after all, the airline that boldly resisted the American embargo against Cuba for years.

The identification of Taipei as “China” rather than as “Taiwan” may seem like playing with words, but it is a serious disservice to air travellers.

Some customers may mistakenly believe that they need to apply to the Chinese embassy for a visa to travel to Taiwan. Rather, Canada and Taiwan have a reciprocal visa-waiver through which Canadians can enter Taiwan visa-free for up to 90 days. Air Canada knows well that Taiwan has never been governed by the People’s Republic of China. Air Canada’s flights to Taipei are regulated by an entirely different government and aviation administration. It is sheer dishonesty to pretend otherwise.

The United States has already reacted and taken a strong stand against this overreach by Chinese censors.

On May 5, the White House issued an official press release, saying, “This is Orwellian nonsense and part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies … the United States strongly objects to China’s attempts to compel private firms to use specific language of a political nature in their publicly available content.”

China’s censorship of the websites of Canadian companies is an attempt to use Chinese law to regulate the behaviour and even thought of Canadians. This is an unacceptable violation of Canadian sovereignty. Only Canadian legislatures have the right to enact and enforce laws about the behaviour of Canadian citizens and companies within our borders. The Canadian government needs to take leadership in assuring Air Canada and other Canadian companies that it supports their right to communicate with their customers as they wish without interference from foreign states.