The Democrat who said he loved going to China so much that he exaggerated how often he went there was asked about being an agent of that country, according to sources from the failed Kamala Harris presidential campaign.
The story is coming out amid reverberations over the Harris campaign’s question to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro about whether he was an agent of Israel, as noted by CNN.
“I told her how offensive the question was,” Shapiro wrote in his memoirs.
The fact that Harris supporters are using this experience as a HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT which Shapiro inaccurately described as a 20 YEAR OLD and has since clarified as justification that it’s okay to ask him if he has ever been an Israeli agent is absolutely disgusting to me. 1/ pic.twitter.com/UG3N3gPoWW
— Antisemitism is racism ✡ (@NormieDem18) January 19, 2026
With the attention-grabbing headlines, the campaign indicated that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was asked about his overwhelming affection for China, CNN wrote, citing four sources it did not name.
The Walz question came with significant foundation.
The Washington Free Beacon noted that Walz, in his teaching days, was a proponent of Chinese communism.
“It means that everyone is the same and everyone shares,” Walz taught in 1991.
“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. They get food and housing,” he said.
Over at Minnesota Public Radio, a report on Walz’s China connections reported that he exaggerated his trips there.
“I lived in China. And as I said, I’ve been there about 30 times,” the outlet quoted Walz as saying in 2016.
The report then went on to note that between 1989 and 2016, when Walz spoke of making 30 visits to China, he would have had to visit more than once a year.
Walz’s team eventually reported he made about 15 trips.
CNN wrote that “Harris allies disclosed the questioning of Walz to more fully explain the vetting process,” citing sources it did not name as saying such a question is standard.
Kamala Harris tapping Tim Walz for VP is a case study in how the Chinese Communist Party’s sub-national influence strategies can translate into an advocate in the White House.
China cultivated Walz as a teacher and a state legislator. He lived in China and visited ~30 times. pic.twitter.com/KH5SYYGb6o
— Michael Lucci (@Michael7ucci) August 6, 2024
“The crux of vetting is asking uncomfortable and even farfetched questions, especially ones that could be raised by your opponents. ‘Have you ever had an affair?’ ‘Have you ever embezzled state funds?’ ‘Have you ever been an agent for another country?’ The point isn’t that you believe any of it to be true,” CNN quoted what it said was a “person close to” campaign lawyer Dana Remus, who popped the Israel question to Shapiro.
“It’s that the subject needs to be on record with definitive answers,” the source said.
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