Tim Walz’s Ties to the Chinese Communist Party

By Tim Gamble

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Tim's comments: Gov. Walz's open admiration for the Chinese Communist Party, and his extensive financial ties to China, are well-known, if under-reported. However, the fact I find most chilling is "the National Association of Scholars reports that the Communist Party has shifted focus to “Confucius Classroom” initiatives in American primary school systems." Not focusing on America's colleges and universities, but now on America's public school system. Let that sink in. 

The following is based on a press release from  America First Legal (AFL), dated September 24, 2024. Links are to web pages of the AFL. 

9-24-2024 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) opened an investigation into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s extensive, multi-decade entanglement with China and the Chinese Communist Part (CCP).

On August 16, 2024, Rep. James Comer launched an investigation into Gov. Walz’s engagement with China. Rep. Comer reported that Gov. Waltz had visited China approximately 30 times; operated Educational Travel Adventures, a for-profit enterprise that organized trips to China for American children for over a decade—between 1991 and 2003; and while serving in Congress, was a fellow at the Macau Polytechnic University, a Chinese institution that characterizes itself as having a “long-held devotion to and love for the motherland.”

Also, it appears Minnesota’s institutions of higher education welcomed and collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party front organizations known as Confucius Institutes during Gov. Walz’s tenure. The “Confucius Institutes” are a key aspect of the CCP’s “soft power” influence operations in the United States. 

During Gov. Walz’s time in office, there were at least two Confucius Institutes in Minnesota, hosted by the University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State University. Despite pressure from the Trump Administration and Congress forcing many institutions of higher education to close their affiliated Confucius Institutes, the one at SCSU remained one of only ten that were still open by September 2023. Since then, the National Association of Scholars reports that the Communist Party has shifted focus to “Confucius Classroom” initiatives in American primary school systems, including the one it operates in St. Cloud, MN. 

National security experts have also highlighted Governor Walz’s promotion of a Minnesota-based medical research center with a history of working with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

It is not clear what, if anything, Gov. Walz has done to prevent the CCP from using Minnesota’s taxpayer-funded schools and universities as propaganda outlets or, as a recent House report documents, from taking advantage of his State’s universities to develop and advance the PRC’s semiconductors, artificial intelligence, or hypersonic, nuclear, or bio-weapons. Gov. Walz, through his business dealings, has certainly profited financially from his interactions with China and the CCP. 

To shed light on Gov. Walz’s CCP ties, AFL has requested:

All records, communications, or calendar entries containing “Confucius Institute;” Any communications with employees of the Ministry of Education of the PRC, the Beijing Genomics Institute, or members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); Records related to Tim Walz’s connections with and travel to the People’s Republic of China. The American people have a right to know the truth about Gov. Walz.

Statement from Reed D. Rubinstein, America First Legal Senior Vice President:

“The Trump Administration and its bipartisan partners in the Congress had no illusions about the Chinese Communist Party’s nature and intentions. Accordingly, they took strong action to expose and terminate the CCP’s influence operations in the United States, including its many Confucius Centers around the country, and to protect our research enterprise. By contrast, Gov. Walz’s long and troubling history of sympathetic engagement with the Chinese Communist Party and its instrumentalities suggests, at best, a blind disregard for our national security. The truth about Gov. Walz must be exposed,” said Reed D. Rubinstein.

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Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win   (Amazon link), by Peter Schweizer, came out in 2022, but is a treasure trove full of information and named examples of how America's leadership (government, corporate and academic) are largely paid off and ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.