Congressional Republicans are launching an investigation into Minnesota governor Tim Walz’s connections to China to determine if he was part of the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to cultivate friendly elites.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) wrote a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray on Friday asking for documents and information related to Chinese entities Walz may have interacted with during his many engagements in China.
“As such, the Committee seeks information about the Chinese entities and officials Governor Walz has engaged and partnered with, as well as any warnings or advice the FBI may have given to Governor Walz about U.S. political figures being targeted by or recruited for CCP influence operations,” Comer wrote.
“It has come to the Committee’s attention that Governor Walz has longstanding connections to CCP-connected entities and officials that make him susceptible to the Party’s strategy of elite capture,” he added.
Walz has visited China about 30 times. The Chinese government funded at least one of those trips, a 1993 visit during Walz’s teaching days. While serving in Congress, Walz was a fellow at the Macau Polytechnic University, a Chinese state-run institution of higher education.
Comer’s letter goes through Walz’s ties to China and long history of engagement with the country, noting that such activities usually fall under the purview of the FBI’s foreign influence task force.
He is requesting documents and information about various Chinese entities Walz may have overlapped with, including Chinese intelligence services and overseas influence groups. Comer is also asking the FBI for communications with Walz about engaging with the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliates.
Separately, Comer has been investigating China’s attempts to infiltrate and influence U.S. government agencies and financial institutions.
Although critical of China’s human rights violations, Walz has expressed support for U.S. cooperation with China instead of embracing the bipartisan consensus that China poses a major threat to U.S. interests. In 2019, Walz headlined a conference devoted to U.S.-China cooperation, and spoke alongside the head of an organization the State Department later found to be a Chinese-influence front group.
Walz’s engagement with China have received scrutiny, particularly from conservatives, since he became Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate earlier this month. Harris’s 2024 rival, former president Donald Trump, has made competition with China one of the hallmarks of his political career.
The Biden administration has extended Trump’s tariffs on China and instituted new tariffs in sectors deemed strategically important.
“The CCP has sought to destroy the United States through coordinated influence and infiltration campaigns that target every aspect of American life, including our own elected officials,” Comer said in a statement. “Americans should be deeply concerned that Governor Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential running mate, has a longstanding and cozy relationship with China.”