Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Waltz On Tuesday night, he admitted he had “misspoken” in the past He claimed to be in Hong Kong during repression Tiananmen Square where the Chinese army attacked and killed pro-democracy demonstrators.
The Minnesota governor said he was in Hong Kong during the summer of the Tiananmen Square protests, but not in June 1989 when the crackdown took place in and around the square in the Chinese capital, Beijing.
Acceptance comes later news accounts It was contrary to Walz’s opinion past dispute said he was in Hong Kong during the deadly protests.
horse Argument with slittle. JD VanceWalz, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said the misrepresentations stemmed from rhetorical exuberance rather than a deliberate attempt to confuse Americans.
“I haven’t been perfect,” Walz said. “Sometimes, I’m a little crazy.”
“I will talk a lot,” he said. “I will engage in rhetoric.”
one of the vice presidents Kamala Harris‘ The main arguments in his presidential campaign are the former president Donald Trump cannot be trusted to tell the truth. Walz’s false claim that he was in Hong Kong during an epochal event in world history creates a vulnerability that Republicans will no doubt try to exploit.
During the discussion, Walz tried to answer a question about his role as a young teacher who takes a group of students to China to learn about a different culture.
Walz first traveled to China after graduating college in 1989, stopping first in Hong Kong, then a British colony. He spent a year teaching English and American history and culture at a high school in Foshan, southern China, through Harvard’s WorldTeach program.
a February episode On the “Pod Save America” podcast, Walz said he was in Hong Kong “when Tiananmen happened on June 4th.” He said he was more inclined to travel to mainland China after the episode of violence, which is estimated to have left thousands dead and severely strained Beijing’s international relations.
The timing of his arrival in Hong Kong was first questioned on Monday Minnesota Public RadioHe cited an August 1989 Nebraska newspaper article that reported Walz had traveled to China that month.
When asked Tuesday about the discrepancy, the Harris-Walz campaign did not dispute that Walz misspoke, but did not explain why. The campaign said the number of trips Walz made to China was closer to 15, not the 30 he had claimed in the past.
According to a source familiar with Walz’s comments, the point he was trying to make was that some people in his curriculum discussed dropping out after the Tiananmen Square crackdown, “but he continued with the program because he believed it was important to the Chinese people. people learn about American democracy and American history.”
“It’s about trying to understand the world,” Walz said in Tuesday’s debate.
Walz has long been a vocal critic of China’s human rights record, as well as its trade practices and growing aggression in China. South China Sea. But he also spoke of potential areas for cooperation between the United States and China, often described as the world’s most important bilateral relationship.
“I don’t necessarily fall under the category that China should have a hostile relationship,” he said said in a video interview in 2016.
Republicans who favor a tough stance against China and its ruling Communist Party have drawn on Walz’s experience in China, which is not mentioned in his article. Biography on the Harris campaign websiteas grounds for suspicion.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, called on the homeland security secretary on Monday. Alejandro Mallorcas For information on Walz’s “connections with the CCP.”
Just before Tuesday’s debate, the Trump campaign sent out an email accusing Walz of “getting cozy with China,” citing 30 visits.
Republicans, like Trump, have attacked Walz for other inaccurate statements regular sspreading false information. In August, Walz, who had been in the Army for 24 years but had never been sent to a combat zone, “he misspoke,” he said In a 2018 video released by the Harris campaign, he talked about using guns “in war.”
Vance too He accused Walz of lying when he revealed that he and his wife, Gwen, had their children through in vitro fertilization. They used another form of assisted reproductive technology called intrauterine insemination.
A spokeswoman for the Harris-Walz campaign said Walz “used commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatment” in her earlier comments.