From teaching at a high school in China to serving as a member of an important Congressional commission on relations between Beijing and Washington, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has had a decades-long connection with China, beginning with the pro-democracy protests of 1989 in Tiananmen Square.
Mr. Walz was a teacher of American history and culture, as well as English, at Foshan High School in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in 1989, the year when hundreds of thousands of Chinese students protested against the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Tiananmen Square. “China was opening up, and that was why I went,” Mr. Walz said in an interview with ‘The Hill’ in Washington in 2007. During his year of teaching in China, his students nicknamed him “China Fields” because of his kindness.
His time in China shaped his views on life under the Communist Party.
“If they had real leadership, their achievements would be boundless,” he stated in an interview with ‘Star Herald’ in 1990, describing his teaching experience in China as “one of the most valuable” experiences for him.
His interest in China did not stop there. After returning to the United States, Mr. Walz and his wife founded a company called “Education Through Travel Adventures” to organize summer excursions for American students to China.
Five years after the Tiananmen Square protests and their violent suppression by the Chinese government, Mr. Walz returned to China with his wife for their honeymoon, bringing along two groups of American students. He and his wife continued to organize summer programs for American students in China until 2003.
Human Rights Activist in China
After being elected to the House of Representatives in 2007, Mr. Walz continued to focus on issues related to China. As a congressman, he was part of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, whose sole purpose is to address human rights issues in China.
In a short period, Mr. Walz became a vocal critic of the Chinese government. He regularly met with high-profile activists from China and Hong Kong, including activist Joshua Wong and the spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama.
In a 2014 interview with Voice of America, Mr. Walz recalled his impressions as a witness to the student protests in Tiananmen Square. “I remember waking up on July 4th to the news of the unimaginable happening,” he said.
Although most Americans at the time chose to leave China for safety reasons following the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, Mr. Walz said he believed it was “an important moment to go” to China because he wanted to ensure that “what was happening needed to be shown” and to convey to the Chinese people that the outside world was with them.
In addition to engaging with activists from China and Hong Kong, Mr. Walz also proposed, along with other legislators, several resolutions on important human rights issues in China, including resolutions calling for the release of Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo and activist Huang Qi. He also signed, as a guarantor, the Declaration on Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong in 2017.
In one of his statements as a legislator in 2016, Mr. Walz emphasized the importance of “constructive dialogue” with Beijing to ensure the “protection of Tibet’s traditional culture and its fragile ecology.”
“The United States was founded on the idea of universal freedoms, and I believe we must continue to urge the Chinese government not to restrict the religious freedom of Tibetans,” he stated.
Foreign Policy
In addition to being a vocal critic of human rights in China, Mr. Walz has also expressed concern about China’s efforts to expand its presence in the South China Sea in 2016. He referred to Beijing’s plans to build artificial islands in contested waters and opposed efforts by Washington to reduce the military budget.
Despite his steadfast position on human rights in China and military presence, Mr. Walz has emphasized the importance of continuing cooperation with China. “I’m not in the category of people who think that we must necessarily have adversarial relations with China,” he stated in an interview with the portal ‘Agri Pulse.’
“I think we need to remain steadfast on what Beijing is doing in the South China Sea, but there are many other areas of cooperation where we can work,” added Mr. Walz.
Some analysts say that Mr. Walz’s deep ties with China and his past in diplomacy between China and the United States might help the Democratic duo make informed decisions on foreign policy, particularly on issues related to China.
“I think many people who are concerned about American foreign policy in this part of the world are reassured by his selection as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, because in this combination there is someone who is informed, who has lived in the region, and who does not start from scratch regarding American foreign policy in East Asia,” said Professor Lev Nachman from National Taiwan University.
He noted that through the human impressions Mr. Walz has shared with the public about the Chinese, Tibetans, and Hong Kong residents, the Governor of Minnesota could bring more nuance to the debate on China in the United States.
“He can articulate the need to criticize China’s authoritarianism and human rights violations in various parts of the world in a way that does not demean the Chinese people, and without supporting the fear rhetoric that currently dominates the discussion in the United States when talking about relations between the two countries,” Mr. Nachman told Voice of America.
