Walz’s China experience draws GOP attacks, but Beijing isn’t counting on better ties

At 25, Walz taught a year of high school in China. He returned for his honeymoon and many more times with American exchange students. As a congressman, he served on a committee tracking China’s human rights and met figures like the Dalai Lama.

Now that Walz is the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Republicans have accused him of a decadeslong relationship with “Communist China” and even opened an investigation. The attacks reflect how, amid a tense U.S.-China relationship, visits once seen as simple cultural interactions have become a target for political opponents. Ultimately, Beijing does not expect U.S. policy to thaw regardless of who is in the White House, experts say.

With competition defining Washington’s relationship with Beijing, any interaction with China appears to be “regarded with skepticism, if not outright suspicion,” and it’s become “a well-worn tactic to attack opponents simply for having a China line in their resumes,” said Kyle Jaros, an associate professor of global affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

“The assumption behind these attack lines is that having China connections makes individuals beholden or sympathetic to China and compromises U.S. interests,” Jaros said. “There is definitely such a thing as being too cozy with one’s geopolitical rival, but blanket China-bashing and excluding people with firsthand China experience from U.S. policymaking is also bad for U.S. interests.”