New York, Oct 30
Democratic Party vice presidential candidate Tim Walz's connections to China, where he had been a teacher, have come for renewed scrutiny after a former student alleged that she had a romantic relationship with him.
The vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Republican Marco Rubio said in an X post, "If you aspire to be Vice President of the United States, voters deserve to know everything about any and every link you have to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)."
Earlier, the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability had asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for information it had about Walz's connections to China expressing concern that the CCP could influence the White House if he is elected.
The Daily Mail reported on Monday that the woman, now 59 years old and living in Europe, claimed that they had a "passionate" affair in 1989 while he was a 24-year-old teacher at a school in Foshan in Guangdong Province.
"Tim was very passionate and very romantic. I can still remember dancing with him to our favourite song, 'Careless Whisper'," Jenna Wang, who said she was the daughter of a high-ranking communist, told the Mail.
They kept their relationship secret because of her father's status, she said.
She asserted that she had expected to marry him and that he refused and accused her of only wanting to move to the US.
The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz did not reply to requests from several media outlets for a reaction.
Rubio's tweet rekindles questions about Walz's China links raised in the House of Representatives Committee.
Its Chair James Comer wrote last month to FBI Director Christopher Wray, "The Committee is concerned that Mr. Walz's involvement with Chinese entities and officials may have allowed the CCP to influence his decision-making as a congressman and governor and potentially would allow the CCP to influence the White House should Mr. Walz be elected vice president".
According to the panel, he reiterated the panel's request "for all information, documents, and communications in the FBI's possession related to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) connected entities and officials Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has engaged and partnered with".
Although the FBI had said in August it would give the panel the information, it had not, Comer said.
He said that Walz has visited China 30 times, including a trip with students in 1993 that was partly financed by China.
While Walz was in Congress, Comer wrote quoting a report, that he "helped secure over $2 million" and "pushed for a $5 million federal budget allocation" for the Hormel Institute, which is a "Minnesota-based medical research center with a history of working with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China".
He added, "The FBI appears to deem these concerning facts unpersuasive to require its cooperation with a congressional investigation. The FBI told the Committee that the Bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force investigates this kind of CCP activity."
The Wuhan institution is suspected of being a source for the Covid pandemic.
Walz was a former high school teacher in Minnesota before entering politics and becoming the state's governor and ultimately being picked by Harris to run with her.
Soon after his graduation when he was 24 in 1989, Walz went to China as a teacher under a programme sponsored by an NGO, World Teach.
A controversy arose over the timing of the assignment because he claimed to have been in China during the Tiananmen Square uprising demanding democracy.
He later conceded that he was in Hong Kong at the time and said his claim was "knuckleheaded".
