By Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee for 2024, is facing renewed scrutiny over his past claims related to China and his proximity to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Walz, who has previously stated that he has visited China 30 times and was in Hong Kong during the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on student protests, now faces questions about the accuracy of those assertions.
Walz lied about his experience in 1989 during a congressional hearing, writes The Washington Free Beacon. He described himself as being near the events of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
At a 2014 congressional hearing held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Tim Walz, then a congressman representing Minnesota’s first district, recalled being in Hong Kong when the Chinese Communist Party crushed the student protests that had roiled the country since mid-April of 1989. The unforgettable crackdown came on June 4 of that year.
“I was just going to teach high school in Foshan in Guangdong, and was in Hong Kong in May of ‘89,” he said. “And as the events were unfolding, several of us went in. And I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.” He went on: “There was a large number of, especially European, I think, very angry that we would still go after what had happened, but it was my belief at that time that the diplomacy was going to happen on many levels.”
That anecdote has since been repeated, without scrutiny, by the New York Times, CBS News, and National Public Radio, among others. In reality, local news reports show that Walz was at home in Nebraska in May and June of 1989, as protests convulsed China and the government’s response turned the world’s attention to its gross human rights violations. He wouldn’t depart for China until August.
Contemporaneous news reports show Walz touring a National Guard storeroom in Alliance, Nebraska, in May 1989. They indicate that Walz did not leave the United States until August of that year, at least two months after the student protests ended with the Tiananmen Square massacre.
NEW on CNN: We’ve found even more instances of Tim Walz falsely claiming to have been in China during Tiananmen Square – including as recently as a 2019 radio interview.
“I was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, when, of course, Tiananmen Square happened.”https://t.co/E8iywnhk5h pic.twitter.com/2hSKosEYpY
— Andy Kaczynski (@KFILE) October 1, 2024
Additionally, Walz’s claims about the number of times he has visited China are being revised by his own campaign. While Walz previously asserted that he had traveled to China 30 times, a statement from the Harris-Walz campaign clarified that the actual number is closer to 15.
The revelations come at a critical time for Walz, who has been under increasing scrutiny regarding various aspects of his background, writes The Washington Examiner. Questions have been raised about his military service and his 2004 political origin story, prompting concerns over potential embellishments. Walz’s connections to China, in particular, are now the subject of an investigation by Congress.
House Oversight Committee Chairmqan James Comer is leading a probe into Walz’s ties to China. This week, Comer subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for records related to Walz, citing information from a whistleblower. According to Comer, the whistleblower revealed details from a group chat with Department of Homeland Security employees that purportedly contains information pertinent to the investigation.
In September, Comer had already requested documents from the FBI regarding Walz’s China connections. A report by the Washington Examiner revealed that as Minnesota governor, Walz played a role in securing funding for a Minnesota-based research center that collaborates with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, located in Wuhan, China. This facility has been a focal point in discussions about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Comer’s investigation also points to a past trip Walz organized for his students while he was a high school teacher in Minnesota. The trip, partly sponsored by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), raised questions about Walz’s longstanding connections to China. Furthermore, from 2004 to 2007, Walz held a teaching fellowship at Macau Polytechnic University, an institution known for its alignment with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a key global strategy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
As the investigation unfolds, Walz’s “extensive” ties to China, as well as discrepancies in his personal accounts, continue to draw attention as he campaigns alongside Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 election. The scrutiny could become a significant challenge for Walz as he navigates the political landscape leading up to November.
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