U.S. Democratic vice-presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz at a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday as presidential candidate Kamala Harris looks on
| Photo Credit: AFP

U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate has raised eyebrows, and plenty of questions, in China. Mr. Walz had spent considerable time in China, with his first visit being in 1989, the year the military crushed pro-democracy protests.

Demonstrators spent weeks on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square demanding democracy before the military conducted a deadly crackdown on June 4, 1989.

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Mr. Walz was married on the fifth anniversary of that politically sensitive date.

Discussion of the events at Tiananmen is strictly censored in China but many social media users made veiled references on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) to the timing of Mr. Walz’s stint in the country.

The 60-year-old former schoolteacher has visited China dozens of times, including on summer trips with student groups for sightseeing and cultural exchange.

In 1989, Mr. Walz moved to Foshan, a city in China’s southern Guangdong province, for a year of teaching English at a local high school, according to media reports at the time.

Mr. Walz married his wife Gwen on June 4, 1994, an article in a local U.S. newspaper said.

“He wanted to have a date he’ll always remember,” his wife was quoted as saying.

On Wednesday, social media users in China questioned the timing of Mr. Walz’s 1989 arrival in the country and suggested ulterior motives.

‘Special mission’

“He came to China at a time of turmoil, clearly with a special mission,” one user commented on the platform Weibo.

“Is he from the CIA?” another wrote.

“Look at the year and you cannot help but be sceptical,” chimed in a third.

Mr. Walz has pushed back against the assertion that the United States and China are necessary adversaries, a view widespread in Washington in recent years as trade and geopolitical disagreements with Beijing mount.

“I lived in China and as I said I have been there about 30 times,” he told farming news website Agri-Pulse in a 2016 interview.

“But if someone tells you they are an expert on China, they are probably not telling you the truth because it is a complex country,” he said.

But despite his positive comments on Chinese people and culture, Mr. Walz has also been critical of its government, telling local U.S. media in 1990 that with “proper leadership” the country could achieve great success.

In 2016, while representing Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives, he met with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader denounced by Beijing as a dangerous separatist.

China’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it would not comment on Ms. Harris’s choice of Mr. Walz as a running mate, calling the election an internal affair of the United States.

“We hope the U.S. side can work with the Chinese side to move in the same direction,” the statement said.

Social media users wondered what Mr. Walz’s personal connection to their country might mean if elected. “If Harris is elected President, Vice President Walz will have a definite influence on her China policy,” one user wrote.