Tim Walz’s Tiananmen Square claims undercut by news reports [Video]

Newly unearthed reports contradict previous claims made by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz about his travel to China, including a claim that the Democratic vice-presidential nominee was in Hong Kong for a teaching position in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that ended in hundreds of protesters killed by the Chinese government.

The discrepancy over Walz’s relationship to China comes ahead of Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate in New York, where Republican allies of Ohio Sen. JD Vance have signalled that the GOP vice presidential nominee may use Walz’s history in China to attack his rival. Walz regularly organized and chaperoned trips to China during his time as a teacher prior to entering politics.

Walz previously said he visited Hong Kong in “May of ’89,” weeks before the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. During a 2014 hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on Chinahonouring the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, Walz, then a Minnesota congressman, appeared to …