US elections: Harris' VP pick Walz's history with China may prove awkward

By Iain Marlow
 

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has connections to China dating back decades that could help inform a potential Kamala Harris administration’s approach to Beijing, but may also spell trouble with leaders in Beijing and Republicans back home.
 

The little-known Minnesota governor taught English in China’s southern Guangdong province in 1989 and 1990, making him the first person on a presidential ticket to have that kind of experience living in the country since George H. W. Bush, who served as US ambassador in Beijing in the 1970s. Walz has often spoken affectionately about China’s people.

“If they had the proper leadership, there are no limits on what they could accomplish,” he told a local newspaper after returning from China in 1990. “They are such kind, generous, capable people.”

Walz got married on the fifth anniversary of the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square military crackdown, with his wife Gwen telling a local newspaper “he wanted to have a date he’ll always remember.” He’s also posted on social media that he had a “life-changing” lunch with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader exiled by China.

His interest in the country has also extended to policy-making, with Walz cosponsoring numerous pieces of legislation in the US House, including the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2017. 

Walz also cosponsored numerous resolutions, including those condemning China’s censorship of the killings in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and ones expressing concern about the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. 

With Walz appearing prominently on the national political scene for the first time on Tuesday, many on social media began poring over a long record of comments on China, some of them decades old. 

“I don’t fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship,” Walz said in a video interview posted in 2016 that focused mainly on agriculture that is now being reposted on X. “I totally disagree, and I think we need to stand firm, on what they’re doing in the South China Sea. But there’s many areas of cooperation that we can work on.”

At the same time, his views on China have tracked a familiar evolution from hope that an economic opening up would lead to greater political freedoms to frustration about what he’s called China’s worsening human-rights record. His positions appear largely in sync with the Biden administration approach to China, which aims to compete with Beijing in military and economic spheres, and cooperate where possible on climate or narcotics trafficking. 

“I think the idea was, with a free market economy, we’d see a more opening of the Chinese grip on — on social life and on human rights,” Walz said in a congressional hearing in 2016. “That simply has not occurred.”

Walz’s stance toward China — and his past meeting with the Dalai Lama — may open him to criticism from Beijing. But a Chinese official, who asked not to be identified, said the choice of Walz is unlikely to impact US policy as American politicians are unified in their hardline views on China. In Beijing’s view, every candidate believes untrue and harmful things about China, the official said.

On the other hand, some of the governor’s more nuanced takes on the country from his trips could leave him open to Republican attacks during a tight race for the White House at a time when the China relationship is much more confrontational.

While China appears to be a personal issue for Walz, that’s only good “to a point” and doesn’t reflect the “zero-sum competition” between the US and China, said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and author of Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance.

“The Chinese people aren’t Americans’ enemies, and Walz understands that basic reality — on the other hand, Walz seems overly optimistic, almost Pollyannish, about Washington’s struggle with the Chinese Communist Party,” Sobolik said. “Like President Biden and Vice President Harris, Walz seems to reject a cold war framing for US-China relations. That’s a bad thing.” 

Spokespeople for Walz didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

“I lived in China, I’ve been there about 30 times,” Walz said back in 2016. “But if someone tells you they’re an expert on China they’re probably not telling you the truth, because it’s a complex country.”