Serious concern over Walz's frequent China trips

FPI / August 16, 2024

Should the Democrat vice presidential candidate expect questions about his extremely close ties with America's top geostrategic rival, communist China?

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former six-term congressman from Minnesota, honeymooned in China and even planned his wedding date to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Now, Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel panel, is pressing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to explain Walz's frequent excursions to China.

In a letter to Austin, Banks said Walz, who spent 24 years in the Army National Guard, potentially violated foreign travel disclosure requirements for security clearance holders in several of at least 30 trips he took to the communist nation.

“Walz claimed in 2016 that he had traveled to China nearly 30 times; it is likely that at least a dozen of these trips occurred while he was a guardsman … and presumably held a clearance for much or all of this time,” Banks wrote.

“Any individual traveling dozens of times to an adversary nation in a personal capacity while having access to classified information poses an obvious security risk. An individual with a clearance should have had the good judgment not to engage in such travel in the first place.”

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Banks added that there is concern whether Walz “failed to comply with foreign travel reporting requirements during these trips to China, despite his duty as a security clearance holder to protect our national security.”

According to an interview in the Chinese-language outlet Initium Media, Walz was quoted as saying he had been treated “like royalty” while he was there.

Brian J. Cavanaugh, a National Security Council official in the Trump White House, told the NY Post that security measures are “designed to mitigate the risk of foreign intelligence activities and ensure that individuals are aware of potential threats.”

“Regarding the case of Governor Tim Walz’s visits to China while he served in the Army National Guard, the security risks would depend on several factors, including the nature of his interactions, the level of classified information he had access to, and his compliance with reporting requirements,” Cavanaugh said.

“If Governor Walz failed to report foreign travel or take action on any mitigation measures, the risks of him jeopardizing national security are very real, especially given his tenor and tone towards his time in China,” he said.

Cavanaugh referred to Department of Defense directives for reporting on foreign travel, and other relevant federal laws including the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

“These laws and orders mandate the protection of classified information and outline the responsibilities of clearance holders, including the requirement to report foreign contacts and travel that might pose a risk to national security,” he said.

Banks said there are “still many unanswered questions about Governor Walz’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.”

Banks said it is unclear if Walz accurately reported the dozens of foreign trips to his superiors, as is required for anyone with access to classified information, or if he kept them in the dark.

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