Walz's China Stories Begin to Unravel, as Harris Campaign Scrambles to Explain Why
Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota has made yet another trip to the Great Wall of Exaggeration in describing his visits to China, according to new reports.
As noted by CNN, ever since 2014, Walz has been claiming he was in Asia on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese government launched the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters gathered in Tiananmen Square.
“As a young man, I was just going to teach high school in Foshan in Guangdong, and was in Hong Kong in May of ’89,” he said then. “And as the events were unfolding, several of us went in. And I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.”
“The opportunity to be in a Chinese high school at that critical time seemed to me to be really important. And it was a very interesting summer to say the least. Because if you recall, as we moved in that summer and further on and the news blackouts and things that went on, you certainly can’t black out news from people if they want to get it,” he said then.
However, the Washington Free Beacon found that on May 16, 1989, the Nebraska-based Alliance Times-Herald showed a photo of Walz touring a Nebraska National Guard storeroom.
Another newspaper account reported by the Free Beacon says Walz would be heading for China in August of 1989, not the spring.
Over at Minnesota Public Radio, a report on Walz’s China connections that supported his close connections with China said a report it found from mid-August of 1989 said he was leaving for China where he would teach as part of a program called WorldTeach “in a few days.”
“Walz was so proud of his experience in China when he was a Congressman that, occasionally, he even appears to have exaggerated it, like when he commemorated the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 1989,” MPR wrote, also writing, “Walz also appears to have exaggerated the number of times he has been to China.”
“I lived in China. And as I said, I’ve been there about 30 times,” MPR quoted Walz as saying.
Tiananmen Tim!
Funny they’re changing this now – we were planning on calling him out for this at the debate tomorrow night!
Anything else you want to fess up to, Tim??? https://t.co/NCHJyxd7n8
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) September 30, 2024
The report then goes on to note that between 1989 and 2016, when Walz spoke of making 30 visits to China, he would have had to have gone there more than once a year.
MPR found no official visits during Walz’s time in Congress, which began in 2007 when he took office and ended in 2018 when he was elected Minnesota’s governor.
So the Harris-Walz campaign was asked to explain.
“And after weeks of searching, a spokesman confirmed that Walz traveled from the US to China closer to 15 times,” the MPR report said.
CNN reported that it also asked some questions
“When asked by CNN if Walz was in China during the Tiananmen Square protests, the Harris campaign was unable to provide evidence to substantiate Walz’s claim,” it wrote.
The question of Walz’s China claims put a new focus on his credibility.
In August, the Harris campaign had to walk back comments Walz made that he handled weapons in war, as noted by CNN. Walz has also been accused of embellishing his record in the National Guard.
The Free Beacon noted that Walz, in his teaching days, was a booster of Chinese communism.
“It means that everyone is the same and everyone shares,” Walz taught in 1991.
“The doctor and the construction worker make the same. The Chinese government and the place they work for provide housing and 14 kg or about 30 pounds of rice per month. They get food and housing,” he said.
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