By Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is drawing attention from U.S. Republicans - and within China - for his long history with a country seen as Washington's greatest economic and military rival.
Attacks from supporters of the Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, started after Harris announced on Tuesday that Walz - who taught in China after college and has traveled there many times since - was her vice presidential pick.
"Communist China is very happy with @GovTimWalz as Kamala’s VP pick," Richard Grenell, who served as ambassador to Germany and acting national intelligence director in the Trump administration, said on X.
The Harris-Walz campaign dismissed such criticism, noting Walz's record of criticizing Beijing's human rights record. "Republicans are twisting basic facts," James Singer, a campaign spokesperson, said. Singer said Walz had long stood up to the Chinese Communist Party and "fought for human rights and democracy, and always put American jobs and manufacturing first."
Walz went to China to teach English and U.S. history in 1989, the year of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, when he was a new college graduate. He and his wife later started a company that organized trips to China for U.S. students. He has been to China more than 30 times.
He speaks some Chinese, got married on June 4 - saying it was a date he would not forget because it is the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary - and honeymooned in China.
Unlike in the 1980s and 90s, when Walz began his travels, the desire for a hard line on China is one of the few truly bipartisan sentiments in U.S. politics at a time of deep divides between Democrats and Republicans.
While Walz has said the U.S.-China relationship doesn't need to be adversarial, he worked on bills critical of Beijing's human rights record during his 12 years in the House of Representatives and was a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which focuses on human rights.
U.S. vice presidents do not typically have a lot of say over foreign policy, but they can influence a president's thinking about world affairs.
DIFFERENT ERA
China specialist Dean Cheng said that Walz traveling to China as a recent college graduate wasn't very significant, given that U.S. views of China had evolved since Walz first went to China in 1989.
"What is more noteworthy, to my mind, have been more recent comments by Governor Walz that he doesn't see China as necessarily an adversary, and that he hopes there will be cooperation with them," said Cheng, a non-resident senior fellow with the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
"It is harder and harder to see exactly where there is supposed to be cooperation. Which Chinese goals overlap with ours? Which Chinese behaviors are we prepared to countenance, since China is not in the habit of making concessions?"
Some experts said his experience would be an asset in dealings with Beijing.
"Walz has seen it all, understands the promise and peril of engaging with China, and can provide valuable advice on China issues to President Harris and her foreign policy team," said Jeff Moon, a trade consultant and a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China.
Harris made Walz her vice presidential pick on Tuesday in the biggest political decision of her nascent White House bid, which has energized her fellow Democrats after President Joe Biden's decision to end his run for reelection.
In China, commentators on the popular Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) social media platform expressed doubts over whether Walz's history would influence U.S. relations.
"The will of an individual is irrelevant in the face of the will of the nation, whether he is pro-China or anti-China he has to be bound by the national interests of the United States," one commentator said.
Trump launched a trade war against China while in the White House, and as a candidate this year, has suggested he would impose tariffs of 60% or higher on Chinese goods.
His vice presidential choice, Senator JD (NASDAQ:JD) Vance, has called China the "biggest threat" facing the United States.