Tim Walz’s Deep China Ties Could Spell Trouble for Democrats

With relations between Washington and Beijing at a critical point, US Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz’s time in China has come under scrutiny from Republicans. Walz first went to China as a teacher in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square military crackdown. Over the years, he continued to return to China, even spending his honeymoon there.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Daniel Ten Kate and Professor Li Cheng from the University of Hong Kong about what Walz’s track record on China could mean should the Democrats win the election – and whether Walz’s ties with the country would be an asset or liability.

Update: During the vice presidential debate on October 1st, Democratic candidate Tim Walz said he misspoke about being in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989. That’s when the Tiananmen Square protests turned deadly. He didn’t clarify his whereabouts at the time and said that he was in Hong Kong and China in the summer of that year.

Walz has also said he’s traveled to China about 30 times. A Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson said the number of trips Walz took to China is “likely closer to 15.”

We’ve updated the episode to reflect these updates. 

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