US Republicans on Friday formally launched a probe of Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, targeting his personal history with China and seizing on what they perceive as a crucial political vulnerability in the 2024 race for the White House.
In announcing the investigation, James Comer, chair of the US House Oversight committee, cited reports highlighting the Minnesota governor’s “long-standing connections to Chinese Communist Party entities and officials”.
The Kentucky Republican wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting “information, documents and communications related to the CCP-connected entities and officials” Walz may have “engaged and partnered with”.
Comer in a statement issued by the panel claimed that Walz shared a “cosy relationship” with China and served as a fellow at a Chinese institution in Macau that maintains a “devotion to the CCP”.
The Minnesota governor spent about a year teaching high school in China in the late 1980s through Harvard University’s WorldTeach programme.
After returning to the US, Walz met his wife, the former Gwen Whipple, while both were teaching at a high school in Nebraska.
In 1994, the two set up a company called Educational Travel Adventures that offered summer trips to China for their students. In 2007, Walz was a fellow at Macau Polytechnic University.
“The American people deserve to fully understand how deep Governor Walz’s relationship with China goes,” said Comer, referencing Walz’s 30 visits to China since 1989.
In 2016, Walz met the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. A year later he co-sponsored the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which imposed sanctions on mainland and local officials over alleged human-rights abuses during the city’s 2019 protests.
Comer, a US congressman since 2016, is no stranger to championing House probes against political rivals.
In March, his months-long effort to indict US President Joe Biden unravelled when he failed to substantiate key allegations about benefits the American leader was said to have accrued from his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
And in 2023, Comer’s committee launched an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, seeking information from various sources, including Anthony Fauci, who served as the president’s chief medical adviser from 2021 to 2022.
As of June this year, the panel announced it would persist in its search for evidence of Fauci’s criminal wrongdoing.
The Walz probe comes just days after Republican congressman Jim Banks of Indiana wrote to Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin urging the governor’s travel to China during his 24-year-long military service be investigated.
These actions align with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s strategy of labelling political opponents “communists”.
Meanwhile, the former US president has often touted his strong relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and claimed that Sino-American relations would improve if he were to regain the White House.
Trump on Thursday said his campaign’s strategy to win voters in the 2024 presidential race was “hitting a nerve”.
“I think this is a different kind of a race,” he explained. “All we have to do is define our opponent as being a communist or a socialist or somebody that’s going to destroy our country.”
When asked how he would manage ties with Beijing, Trump predicted: “I think we’ll have a great relationship with China.”
Comer in his letter to Wray asked if the FBI had given “any warnings or advice” to Walz “about US political figures being targeted by or recruited for CCP influence operations”.
The letter claimed Walz attended a US-China Peoples Friendship Association event in 2019. However, the Chinese embassy press release for the non-profit group’s event dated October 25, 2019, did not mention Walz’s participation.
In March, Walz posted a photo taken with Consul General Zhao Jian of Beijing’s mission in Chicago, saying they had “exchanged views” on Sino-American relations and subnational cooperation.
