Walz's long history with China draws attacks and praise

Weibo

07/08/2024 19:36

By Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom
       WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Vice President Kamala
Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is drawing
attention from U.S. Republicans - and within China - for his
long history with a country seen as Washington's greatest
economic and military rival.
    Attacks from supporters of the Republican presidential
candidate, former President Donald Trump, started after Harris
announced on Tuesday that Walz - who taught in China after
college and has traveled there many times since - was her vice
presidential pick. 
    "Communist China is very happy with @GovTimWalz as Kamala’s
VP pick," Richard Grenell, who served as ambassador to Germany
and acting national intelligence director in the Trump
administration, said on X.
    The Harris-Walz campaign dismissed such criticism, noting
Walz's record of criticizing Beijing's human rights record.
"Republicans are twisting basic facts," James Singer, a campaign
spokesperson, said. Singer said Walz had long stood up to the
Chinese Communist Party and "fought for human rights and
democracy, and always put American jobs and manufacturing
first."
    Walz went to China to teach English and U.S. history in
1989, the year of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy
protesters in Tiananmen Square, when he was a new college
graduate. He and his wife later started a company that organized
trips to China for U.S. students. He has been to China more than
30 times.
    He speaks some Chinese, got married on June 4 - saying it
was a date he would not forget because it is the Tiananmen
Square massacre anniversary - and honeymooned in China.
    Unlike in the 1980s and 90s, when Walz began his travels,
the desire for a hard line on China is one of the few truly
bipartisan sentiments in U.S. politics at a time of deep divides
between Democrats and Republicans. 
    While Walz has said the U.S.-China relationship doesn't need
to be adversarial, he worked on bills critical of Beijing's
human rights record during his 12 years in the House of
Representatives and was a member of the Congressional-Executive
Commission on China, which focuses on human rights.
    U.S. vice presidents do not typically have a lot of say over
foreign policy, but they can influence a president's thinking
about world affairs.
        
  
    DIFFERENT ERA 
    China specialist Dean Cheng said that Walz traveling to
China as a recent college graduate wasn't very significant,
given that U.S. views of China had evolved since Walz first went
to China in 1989. 
    "What is more noteworthy, to my mind, have been more recent
comments by Governor Walz that he doesn't see China as
necessarily an adversary, and that he hopes there will be
cooperation with them," said Cheng, a non-resident senior fellow
with the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. 
    "It is harder and harder to see exactly where there is
supposed to be cooperation. Which Chinese goals overlap with
ours? Which Chinese behaviors are we prepared to countenance,
since China is not in the habit of making concessions?"
    Some experts said his experience would be an asset in
dealings with Beijing. 
    "Walz has seen it all, understands the promise and peril of
engaging with China, and can provide valuable advice on China
issues to President Harris and her foreign policy team," said
Jeff Moon, a trade consultant and a former assistant U.S. trade
representative for China.
    Harris made Walz her vice presidential pick on Tuesday in
the biggest political decision of her nascent White House bid,
which has energized her fellow Democrats after President Joe
Biden's decision to end his run for reelection.
    In China, commentators on the popular Weibo social media
platform expressed doubts over whether Walz's history would
influence U.S. relations. 
    "The will of an individual is irrelevant in the face of the
will of the nation, whether he is pro-China or anti-China he has
to be bound by the national interests of the United States," one
commentator said.
    Trump launched a trade war against China while in the White
House, and as a candidate this year, has suggested he would
impose tariffs of 60% or higher on Chinese goods.
    His vice presidential choice, Senator JD Vance, has called
China the "biggest threat" facing the United States.

 (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom;
additional reporting by Trevor Hunicutt in Washington, Ethan
Wang and Bernard Orr in Beijing, Editing by Don Durfee and
Alistair Bell)
 ((patricia.zengerle@thomsonreuters.com,
www.twitter.com/ReutersZengerle; 001-202-898-8390;))