Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is facing scrutiny from Republicans over what they say are pro-China comments, including an interview in which the Democratic vice presidential nominee said he disagreed with the idea that there should be an adversarial relationship with the communist government.
Walz briefly worked in China as a teacher, traveling to Guangdong in 1989 for a teaching abroad program to teach English and American history. He later became a congressman and governor of Minnesota.
The Wall Street Journal, citing local media, reported that a trip to China was also his honeymoon in 1994, and that he planned his wedding date to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
In a 2016 interview, Walz said he believed there was potential for a strong relationship between China and the United States, although he also said China needed to play “by the rules” on human rights and the environment.
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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz appear together on stage during a campaign event at Girard College on August 6, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“I’ve lived in China and, as I said, I’ve been there about 30 times. … I’m not one of those people who thinks that China necessarily has to have an adversarial relationship. I totally disagree and I think we need to be firm on what they’re doing in the South China Sea, but there are many areas of cooperation that we can work on,” he said in the interview with Agri-Pulse Communications.
In the interview, he noted that he serves on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a bipartisan commission that focuses on human rights.
Walz taught in the same year as the communist regime’s Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. He later started a company to organize trips to China, and as he noted in his remarks, he has visited the country dozens of times, organizing summer educational trips to China. The New York Post reported that he said after his first trip there, “No matter how long I live, I will never be treated this well again.”
That has drawn criticism from some on the right who say Walz is too lax in dealing with the threat from the Chinese Communist Party.
Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell said that “Communist China is very happy to [Walz] “As Kamala’s chosen vice president.”
“No one is more pro-China than Marxist Walz,” Grenell said.
James Hutton, a former deputy secretary of Veterans Affairs, said Walz “doesn’t see China as a problem.”
“This is a man who will have to learn the truth about the vicious nature of the Beijing dictatorship. Communist tyranny may not be a bad thing for Walz, but the rest of the world knows it. Walz is dangerous.”
“Tim Walz owes the American people an explanation for his unusual 35-year relationship with Communist China,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas.
The flag of China flies behind a pair of surveillance cameras outside central government offices in Hong Kong, China, July 7, 2020. (Roy Liu/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harris’ campaign and some Democrats have pushed back against those criticisms.
“Throughout his career, Governor Walz has stood up to the CCP, fought for human rights and democracy, and always put American jobs and manufacturing first. Republicans are twisting basic facts and lying desperately to distract from the Trump-Vance agenda: praising dictators and sending American jobs to China,” spokesman James Singer said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will ensure that we win the competition with China and will always defend our values and interests in the face of Chinese threats.”
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Others, including Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, have noted that Walz has criticized Beijing for the cultural genocide in Tibet and Xinjiang in 2009, accompanied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a visit to Tibet, and met with the Dalai Lama. He has also co-sponsored resolutions on key human rights issues.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley told the Post that his selection was “a positive signal that a Harris-Walz administration will continue to make human rights a key part of the U.S. relationship with China.”
Meanwhile, on Chinese social media platform Weibo, opinions were divided over what Walz’s choice indicated.
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“I feel like he should be the one running for president,” one user said.
“In 2014, he said in an interview with a US media that he cares a lot about human rights and democracy in China. He was also a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. He has bad intentions,” another said.
Fox News’ Eryk Michael Smith contributed to this report.
