Emerging reports now challenge Governor Tim Walz’s prior assertions about his visits to China, casting doubt on his account of traveling there in 1989 as a teacher during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, a period marked by the tragic suppression of pro-democracy protesters by the Chinese government. The news surfaces just before the upcoming vice presidential debate Tuesday night, where Walz’s contentious ties to China and his penchant for stretching the truth could be focal points for criticism.
Notably before his political career, Walz was known to frequently lead student trips to China, raising questions about his connections and activities during these formative years. As it turns out, even his allies at CNN have confirmed the report about Walz’s involvement, or lack thereof, during the Tiananmen protests. Now, his campaign is scrambling to downplay his other trips to China. When CNN inquired whether Walz was in China during the Tiananmen Square protests, the Harris campaign could not present any evidence to back up Walz’s assertion. The discrepancy was first highlighted by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and detailed by The Washington Free Beacon.
In a 2014 congressional hearing commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Walz, then a U.S. congressman, recounted his experiences during that time. He claimed that he had been in Hong Kong in May of 1989, just before the Chinese government’s military crackdown on student protesters. Walz described witnessing the events unfold from Hong Kong and stated, “I still remember the train station in Hong Kong. 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.”
“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,” Walz said at the time.
