Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz opted not to address criticisms of his long personal history with China as he accepted his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday.
Instead, the Minnesota governor spent his concise 20-minute remarks pushing the party’s slogan of freedom and support for the middle class and lashing out at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as “weird” and “dangerous”.
Walz emphasised that although Trump and his Ohio running mate, J.D. Vance, have claimed ignorance about Project 2025 – a contentious conservative policy agenda – should they return to the White House, they are expected to impose a nationwide abortion ban “with or without Congress” and raise costs for the middle class.
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US vice-presidential hopeful Tim Walz slammed by Trump supporters for China connection
US vice-presidential hopeful Tim Walz slammed by Trump supporters for China connection
“They spend a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I coached high school football long enough to know, and trust me on this, when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re going to use it,” he said, accusing Trump of benefiting “the richest and the most extreme amongst us”.
“Is it weird? Absolutely! But it’s also wrong and it’s dangerous,” Walz added.
Shortly after Walz delivered the most significant speech of his political career, Vance sought to distance the Trump campaign from Project 2025 in an ABC News interview.
He said Trump’s agenda was focused on “fighting back” against Beijing’s practices that were harming Americans.
“Project 2025 has nothing to do with this campaign,” he said.
“Remember our agenda is so simple. It’s to fight back against the Chinese theft of American manufacturing jobs, deliver rising wages for American workers, secure the southern border so that we can have more public safety and fewer people dying of fentanyl overdoses in our country.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump’s team claimed that Walz had “repeatedly praised Communist China”, taking dozens of trips to the country and saying the US should not have an “adversarial relationship with them”.
Since Walz burst from obscurity last month after US Vice-President Kamala Harris named him as her running mate, Republicans have been leveraging his China experience in an apparent effort to undermine his credibility.
Last week, US House Republicans opened a formal investigation into what they described as Walz’s cosy relationship with China and “long-standing connections to Chinese Communist Party entities and officials”.
US Congressman James Comer, Republican of Kentucky and chair of the US House Oversight committee, wrote to FBI director Christopher Wray asking for information on the Chinese Communist Party-connected entities and officials that Walz might have “engaged and partnered with”.
Earlier this month, US congressman Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana, asked Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to investigate Walz’s travel to mainland China when he served in the Nebraska and Minnesota national guards.
The National Guard is primarily a state-level component of the US military, with members typically serving part time. Walz served in the guard’s army branch for about 24 years, leaving in 2005 as a senior enlisted member.
Walz 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 Gwen while both taught at a Nebraska high school.
In 1994, the couple set up a company called Educational Travel Adventures that offered students summer trips to China. In 2007, Walz was a fellow at Macau Polytechnic University.
Walz, who has made about 30 trips to China since 1989, speaks some Mandarin.
Without directly responding to the attacks on his China experience, Walz in his acceptance remarks on Wednesday said: “Leaders don’t spend all day insulting people and blaming others. Leaders do the work.
“I don’t know about you, I’m ready to turn the page on these guys,” he added.
The vice-presidential candidates have agreed to debate each other in New York City on October 1. Walz appears to be more popular among Americans at the moment, according to some surveys.
A recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research showed that 44 per cent of American adults held an unfavourable view of Vance compared to 25 per cent for Walz.
