Tim Walz's record with China casts doubt on his views on Beijing

Tim Walz was announced as Kamala Harris' running mate last Tuesday, August 6. The Minnesota governor beat out Josh Shapiro and Mark Kelly to become the final piece of the Democratic ticket to take on Donald Trump and JD Vance in November. Since then, Republicans have scrutinized his record as a congressman and governor and his foreign policy positions. In this area, in addition to being against the Cuba embargo, they highlighted his longstanding relationship with China. 

In his introductory speech, Walz recalled his past as a school teacher and thanked his students. "They encouraged me to run for office. They saw in me what I was hoping to instill in them: a commitment of common good, a belief that one person can make a difference. And because high school teachers are super optimistic, I was running in a district that had one Democrat since 1892," he said in Philadelphia.

It was precisely that past as a teacher that began his long-standing link to China. As part of the educational program WorldTeach, he spent a year in the Asian country as a high school English teacher. 

At the end of his experience in 1990, he confessed to being very satisfied with the treatment he received. "No matter how long I live, I will never be treated so well again. There was no anti-American sentiment. America is the best for Chinese people. Many students want to come to study in the U.S., but they don't feel there are many opportunities for them in China," he noted at the time.  He stated that "there was almost no crime." 

Walz returned so happy with his experience in China that he decided to spend his honeymoon there with his wife, Gwen. Since then, he has visited the country multiple times and given mixed signals about his thoughts on Beijing.

"Tim Walz doesn't see China as a problem"

Already a public official, Walz's sympathy for China during that year of work prompted the following statement: "I've lived in China and as I've said I've been there about 30 times...I don't fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship, I totally disagree." 

At the same time, the Democrat insisted that the Chinese people "will have no limits" to what they could achieve if they have the "right leadership."

These words were not liked among Republican diplomats, who came out against this leap to national fame of the Minnesota governor. One of them was James Hutton, former assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, who chose to express himself on his X  account.

"Tim Walz doesn’t see China as a problem. This is a guy who will have to learn the truth of the vicious nature of the dictatorship in Beijing. Communist tyranny may not be a bad thing to Walz but the rest of the world knows. Walz is dangerous," he wrote. 

Another who expressed concern about the Democrat was Richard Grenell, ambassador to Germany during the Trump administration. "Communist China is very happy with Tim Walz as Kamala Harris' VP. No one is more pro-China than the Marxist Walz," he noted. 

Calling on Beijing for human rights violations

On the other hand, during his years as a congressman, Walz consistently called out China for human rights violations.

For example, as reported by China Talk, he co-sponsored the following legislation expressing his concern about this problem in the Asian country: 

Since 2019, Walz has been commemorating Falun Dafa Day,a celebration that is considered "a poison" in Beijing He has also met with opponents of the Chinese government in Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan. 

"I taught high school in Foshan, Guangdong province. I know China has announced notable reforms and advancement in recent years. I applaud the accomplishments of the Chinese people and recognize that some in the Chinese Government advocate for greater rule of law. We cannot believe China is serious about human rights while it flagrantly violates its own laws and international human rights commitments," he said of his view of China when he was a congressman in 2011. 

"There are many areas of cooperation we can work on"

In mid-2021, Walz sent a letter to a Chinese language school in Edina, Minnesota, in recognition of the celebration of the 10th Chinese New Year. 

The statement was written just weeks after the State Department declared that the Chinese Communist Party was carrying out genocide and crimes against humanity against Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, highlighting Minnesota's relationship with "the people of China." 

"The state has promoted Minnesota’s connections with China and has hosted numerous senior Chinese officials for decades,” he wrote, adding that “these ties are rapidly expanding through the growth of education, trade, and investment opportunities between our two peoples." 

In another one of his statements on China, he seemed to further clarify his firm yet open stance on cooperation. "I totally disagree [with] and think we need to stand firm on what they’re doing in the South China Sea, but I think there’s many areas of cooperation that we can work on," he said.