Walz falsely claims that he was in Hong Kong in connection with the Tiananmen Square massacre

WASHINGTON (AP) — Multiple news reports indicate that Minnesota’s Democratic vice presidential candidate will be Gov. Tim Waltz misleadingly claimed that he was in Hong Kong during the turmoil around 1989 Tiananmen Square massacrePart of a broader pattern of inaccuracies that Republicans hope to exploit.

At the vice presidential meeting on Tuesday evening debateWalz was asked about misleading people and ultimately, when asked, he said he “wrote it.” But Walz said that he could “get caught up in rhetoric” and that “I tried to do my best, but I wasn’t perfect. And sometimes I’m a dick.” He then added that former President Donald Trump should have tagged along on one of his trips to China, and if he had, the Republican candidate would have been wiser than to compliment Chinese President Xi Jinping on his handling of the pandemic in 2020.

On Tuesday, CNN published a radio interview from 2019 in which Walz stated that he was in Hong Kong on the day of the massacre, although publicly available evidence suggests that this was not the case.

After a seven-week demonstration in Beijing led by pro-democracy students, the Chinese military fired heavily at the group on June 4, 1989, causing at least 500 deaths.

Minnesota Public Radio reported on Monday that publicly available reports contradict a 2014 statement by Walz, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, during a session hearing which commemorated the 25th anniversary of the massacre. Walz suggested he was in what was then the British colony of Hong Kong in May 1989, but apparently he was in Nebraska. Public records show he left for Hong Kong and China in August of that year.

The Associated Press found one Minutes of the 2009 Congress about Tiananmen Square, in which Walz seemed to indicate that he was in Hong Kong on the day of the massacre.

The vice presidential candidate has also made statements misrepresenting the type Infertility treatment received by his family, and there were such conflicting reports about his 1995 arrest for drunk driving and misleading information about his rank in the National Guard. Walz and his campaign did, too different versions given the story of his arrest for drunk driving in 1995.

Walz has also claimed he traveled to China more than 30 times, but his campaign said the actual number was “closer to 15.”

Minnesota Public Radio announced Monday that a photo released on May 16, 1989 showed that Walz was working at the National Guard Armory in Alliance, Neb., at the time, and that an August 1989 report claimed that Walz was going to Break up China.

During the Tiananmen Square hearing in 2014, Walz testified: “As a young man, I was about to teach at a secondary school in Foshan, Guangdong Province, and was in Hong Kong in May 1989. As the events unfolded, several of us went inside.” I still remember the train station in Hong Kong. A lot of people – especially Europeans, I think – were very upset that we were still going to investigate what had happened.”

“But I believed at the time,” Walz continued, “that diplomacy would take place on many levels, certainly people-to-people, and the opportunity to attend a Chinese high school at this critical time seemed really important. “

Minnesota Public Radio said the evidence showed Walz, then a 25-year-old teacher, was still in Nebraska in May 1989. He traveled to China this year through WorldTeach, a small nonprofit based at Harvard University.

The news organization found a newspaper photo published on May 16, 1989, showing Walz working at a National Guard armory. Another Nebraska newspaper dated August 11 of the same year said that Walz would “leave Sunday en route to China” and that he had almost “given up” participation in the program after the student revolts in China over the summer.

Some Republicans have criticized Walz for his longstanding interest in China. Not only did he teach there, but he also spent his honeymoon there and traveled there several times afterwards American exchange students.

Kyle Jaros, an associate professor of global affairs at the University of Notre Dame, told The Associated Press that attacking opponents simply because they have a China line on their resumes has “become a tried-and-true tactic.”