New York, Oct 30
Democratic Party vice presidential candidate Tim Walz's connections to China, where he had been a teacher, have come for renewed scrutiny after a former student alleged that she had a romantic relationship with him.
The vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Republican Marco Rubio, stated in an X post, "If you aspire to be Vice President of the United States, voters deserve to know everything about any and every link you have to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)." Earlier, the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability had requested information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's connections to China. This request was made amid concerns that the CCP could influence the White House if he is elected. The Daily Mail reported on Monday that a woman, now 59 years old and residing in Europe, claimed they had a "passionate" affair in 1989 while Walz was a 24-year-old teacher at a school in Foshan, Guangdong Province. Jenna Wang, who identified herself as the daughter of a high-ranking communist, shared her recollections, stating, "Tim was very passionate and very romantic. I can still remember dancing with him to our favorite song, 'Careless Whisper'." She mentioned that they kept their relationship secret due to her father's status and expressed that she had expected to marry him, but he accused her of only wanting to move to the U.S. The campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz did not respond to requests from multiple media outlets for comments. Rubio's tweet reignited discussions about Walz's connections to China that were previously raised in the House of Representatives Committee. Its Chair, James Comer, wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray last month, expressing concern that Walz's associations with Chinese entities and officials might have compromised his decision-making as both a congressman and governor, which could potentially enable CCP influence over the White House if Walz were elected vice president. According to the committee's request, Comer reiterated the need for all information, documents, and communications in the FBI's possession related to entities and officials connected to the Chinese Communist Party with whom Walz has engaged. Although the FBI had indicated in August that it would provide this information, Comer noted that it had yet to do so. He pointed out that Walz has visited China 30 times, including a trip in 1993 with students that was partially financed by China. While serving in Congress, Comer cited a report stating that Walz "helped secure over $2 million" and "pushed for a $5 million federal budget allocation" for the Hormel Institute, a Minnesota-based medical research center with historical ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Comer remarked that the FBI appears to find these facts unpersuasive enough to warrant cooperation with a congressional investigation. The Bureau's Foreign Influence Task Force is reportedly tasked with investigating such CCP activities. Walz was a former high school teacher in Minnesota before entering politics and eventually becoming the state's governor. He was later chosen by Harris to run alongside her. Following his graduation in 1989, Walz traveled to China as a teacher through a program sponsored by the NGO World Teach. Controversy arose regarding the timing of this assignment because he initially claimed to have been in China during the Tiananmen Square uprising advocating for democracy. He later admitted that he was actually in Hong Kong at that time and referred to his earlier claim as "knuckleheaded."