Newly discovered reports have raised questions about the accuracy of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's statements regarding his travel to China. The controversy centers around Walz's assertion of having traveled to China in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, a period marked by a violent crackdown on protesters by the Chinese government.
Walz, who previously mentioned a teaching position in China in 1989, is facing scrutiny over the timeline of his travels. Reports indicate that Walz organized and led trips to China while working as a teacher before entering politics.
During a 2014 hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Walz, then a congressman, recounted details of his alleged visit to China during the Tiananmen Square protests. However, recent findings suggest that Walz was actually in Nebraska around the time of the protests, as evidenced by a newspaper article and a photo from May 1989.
An issue of the Alliance Times-Herald from May 16, 1989, features a photo of Walz touring a Nebraska National Guard storeroom, with the caption indicating his upcoming move to Alliance, Nebraska. Additionally, a separate newspaper article published in April 1989 in a Nebraska-based outlet mentioned Walz's plans to travel to China in early August of that year.
When questioned about his presence in China during the Tiananmen Square protests, the Harris campaign, representing the Democratic vice presidential nominee, was unable to provide evidence supporting Walz's claim.
The discrepancies in Walz's statements have emerged just before the upcoming vice presidential debate, where Republican allies of Ohio Sen. JD Vance have hinted at using Walz's purported history in China as a potential point of attack against the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
