What Did the CCP Get in Return for Helping to Fund Tim Walz's China Travel Business?

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

In 1989, the Chinese Communist Party cracked down on pro-democracy protests with bullets and tanks. Who can forget the image of a lone protester being crushed to death in Tiananmen Square? That same year, Tim Walz hopped on a plane and flew to China to teach for a year, where he was lavished with gifts and a salary that dwarfed that of native Chinese teachers. 

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According to his congressional biography, "Walz spent 1989-1990 teaching high school in China as a part of the first government sanctioned groups of American educators to teach in China through a program at Harvard University."

Upon returning home, his hometown newspaper reported that he had received "royal treatment" during his time there. "No matter how long I live, I'll never be treated that well again," Walz told the newspaper. "They gave me more gifts than I could bring home." He was provided with an apartment that "included a color televisions and shortwave radio. His pay, 650 yuan or $80 per month, was double the salary of other teachers."

"I was treated exceptionally well," he told the Star-Herald at the time. "There was no anti-American feeling whatsoever." 

After returning home, he displayed a "Chinese banner and clippings from news accounts of his trips" on the walls of his school office. 

A few years later — just four years after the horrific Tiananmen Square massacre — Tim Walz began accepting money from the CCP for his new student tourism business. 

In 1993, the Times-Herald reported that "Walz got the idea while working as a teacher in China three years ago. A friend helped contact the authorities and funding came through from the government this April." That "friend" worked in China's foreign affairs department. 

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While students and sponsors were required to raise $1,500 each for the trip, "lodging, food and other costs in China are being picked up by the government." 

"We don't think a high school group has gone that (Chinese authorities have) paid a large part of the costs," Walz bragged. While in China, Walz, who was then a member of the Army National Guard, told students to "downplay their American-ness," according to the paper. 

According to a report in the Daily Mail

The following year seven students reportedly received $800 'scholarships' to help with the cost.

The scholarships were sponsored by Walz, his wife, and 'the Chinese government'.

Michael Sobolik, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, said it was 'notable' that 'the Chinese government funded Tim Walz’s student exchange trips to China in the 90s.

'By Walz’s own admission, it was unusual that the government “paid a large part of the cost”.'

Tim Walz loved China so much that he and his wife Gwen spent their honeymoon there on one of the student junkets, presumably with the CCP picking up the tab. The Walz's were married on the 4th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. 

If the CCP was hoping to buy some good press by rewarding Walz with travel perks, it appears it got its money's worth. As reported by the Alliance Times-Herald in 1991, Walz praised communism, explaining to students that "everyone is the same and everyone shares." 

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"The doctor and the construction worker make the same. The Chinese government and the place they work for provide housing and 14 kg or about 30 pounds of rice per month."

Last week, House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray demanding documents related to Walz's ties to the CCP as part of the committee's investigation "into CCP infiltration and influence operations" in the U.S., as my college Ben Bartee reported here

The letter noted

Recent reporting reveals that Governor Walz has concerning ties to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In 1993, according to the Star-Herald, as a teacher, Mr. Walz organized a trip to the PRC for Alliance High School students, where costs were paid by the Chinese government. In 1994, Mr. Walz set up a private company named “Educational Travel Adventures, Inc.,” which coordinated annual student trips to the PRC until 2003, and was led by Mr. Walz himself. The corporation was reportedly dissolved four days after he took congressional office in 2007. Since his first trip to China, Governor Walz has visited the PRC an estimated “30 times.” In its investigation, the Committee has highlighted the importance of U.S. officials being cognizant of CCP political and psychological warfare efforts that seek to threaten national security.

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 While serving in Congress, Walz was a fellow at the Macau Polytechnic University, which Comer described as a "Chinese institution that characterized itself as having a 'long held devotion to and love for the motherland.'" Walz had "significant credit card debt" at the time, Comer noted. 

The committee also wants to know about any "warnings or advice the FBI may have given to Governor Walz about U.S. political figures being targeted by or recruited for CCP influence operations" because his ties to the CCP and party officials "make him susceptible to the Party's strategy of elite capture, which seeks to co-opt influential figures in elite political, cultural, and academic circles to influence the United States to the benefit of the communist regime and the detriment of Americans." 

This week, Walz will officially receive the nomination to be the vice-presidential candidate at the Democrat National Convention. His ties to the CCP raise troubling questions about where his loyalties lie and what the CCP got in return for all the money they shuttled his way over the years. 

Don't expect to hear anything from CNN, the Washington Post, or the New York Times about Walz being a stooge for the CCP. Or if they do report on it, it will be celebrated as a gold star on his resume. At PJ Media, we will never back down from the fight to keep our beautiful country free and prosperous. They can and have demonetized us, but they cannot silence us. If you want to join us in that fight, become a VIP member today. With our limited-time DNC week sale, you can get 60% off your membership using the promo code FIGHT. That's just $1.63 per month for all the perks that come with membership, including access to our excellent troll-free comment section. Sign up here before the offer expires

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