The China Connection: Tim Walz Has Become An Overnight Sensation On Chinese Social Media

Posted • August 7, 2024: Since his selection as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has become an overnight sensation both on social media and in the mainstream press. We've learned a lot about him, and we keep learning more. (And to be honest, most Republicans are thankful Harris didn't choose Josh Shapiro, either because he's Jewish or because she didn't want someone upstaging her.) Excitement over "America's dad" has gone international, according to Semafor, which reports that Walz has become on overnight sensation on Chinese social media: Tim Walz’s personal ties to China have turned him into an overnight sensation on Chinese social media. Democrat vice presidential nominee Tim Walz has turned into an overnight media sensation in China. The Minnesota governor’s experience teaching English in China in 1989, spending his honeymoon there, and organizing student trips to the country has led many Chinese social media users to hope that he could help thaw fraught US-China relations if elected. …

Some Chinese state media outlets and online commentators expressed enthusiasm about Walz. As a future vice president, Walz could quell US-China tensions by continuing “to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges” between the two superpowers, Phoenix TV wrote. One WeChat security blog compared Walz’s stance to his Republican rival, JD Vance, saying the latter has been “gunning down China and blaming it for everything” since his nomination. However, other observers believed Walz would adopt a tough stance toward Beijing despite his personal connections to the country. “I don’t think their China policy depends on their past experiences, I think it still depends on the American perception of their own economic status,” one US-China expert said. Bernie Sanders spent his honeymoon in the Soviet Union; Walz spent his in China. So Communists and Democrats are aligned. Got it. Just a regular guy who has a strong long lasting relationship ship with the CCP. The Chinese appreciate his "folksy demeanor."

Wonder why. If only we had a group of people whose job it was to investigate if such ties could pose a serious national security risk. Oh well. About his time in China: Kamala Harris tapping Tim Walz for VP is a case study in how the Chinese Communist Party's sub-national influence strategies can translate into an advocate in the White House. China cultivated Walz as a teacher and a state legislator. He lived in China and visited ~30 times. The CCP cultivating Tim Walz is textbook "sub-national influence" - 1) Establish a relationship through friendly exchange during early career - 2) Soften Walz's views of China with years of propaganda visits - 3) Maintain a relationship as his career progresses - 4) Get Walz to parrot CCP propaganda - 5) Play the long game and capitalize on the relationship at an opportune time. We must end all Chinese influence operations at the state and local level. China can no longer be allowed to "use the local to surround the central." Notable: the Chinese government funded Tim Walz’s student exchange trips to China in the 90s. By Walz’s own admission, it was unusual that the government “paid a large part of the cost.” https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GUUDgw9WwAE_uUT?format=jpg&name=large

What an asset he'll be in normalizing U.S.-China relations! Has China found a new man in Washington now the Biden family are no use? Tim Walz’s long history with China raises uncomfortable questions for anybody who understands how China works, writes former NSA counterintelligence officer John Schindler. Abridged version: By his admission, Walz has visited China about 30 times, including spending his honeymoon there… It was an odd choice to visit China in 1989, right as the regime was crushing dissent with tanks in the infamous Tiananmen Square massacre. This did nothing to diminish Walz’s admiration for Beijing. Upon his return from teaching in 1990, he told his local newspaper, “I was treated exceptionally well. There was no anti-Americanism whatsoever… “No matter how long I live I'll never be treated that well again. They gave me more gifts than I could bring home.” He gushed that the police state had “almost no crime.”…

We need to ask what’s going on here, particularly in light of Walz’s admission in 1993 that his leading of student groups to China was funded by the regime. What did China think it was getting in exchange for this investment? What did Walz think Beijing expected in return? Put simply, the Chinese communists aren’t running a holiday charity for American tourists. Nothing comes without a quid pro quo. It’s certain that Walz was vetted by the Ministry of State Security, the regime’s powerful secret police, because that’s how China works. No American would be allowed to run academic exchanges for a couple of decades, on the CCP’s dime, without MSS approval. Three decades ago, a young American with an affection for China, who was also a part-time member of the U.S. military, would have been a tempting recruiting target for Chinese intelligence. Given that Beijing’s spies represent the greatest espionage threat to the United States today, this isn’t any merely academic query.

Moreover, we’re coming off four years of a Democrat president possessing odd, unexplained ties to Beijing, including millions of dollars given to his son by Chinese intelligence. Do we really want someone who may be even more compromised by China in the White House? (…)

• More at: Twitchy - Report: Tim Walz Has Become an Overnight Sensation on Chinese Social Media
https://twitchy.com/brettt/2024/08/07/report-tim-walz-has-become-an-overnight-sensation-on-chinese-social-media-n2399365
Washington Examiner: Tim Walz’s ties to Communist China demand attention
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/3112901/tim-walzs-ties-to-communist-china-demand-attention/