Did Tim Walz have an affair with Chinese official's daughter?

Thirty-five years before US Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, he was allegedly involved in a secret relationship with Jenna Wang, the daughter of a senior Chinese Communist Party official.

This affair allegedly took place in the 1980s while Walz was teaching in Foshan through the nonprofit WorldTeach.

Now, several reports claim that the affair left Wang, now 59, devastated and suicidal. According to Wang, their relationship was marked by affection and dreams of a shared future, but it ultimately ended in heartbreak that led her to contemplate suicide, she told The New York Post.

This revelation comes just days before the crucial showdown between Kamala Harris and former US President Donald Trump on November 5, with polls indicating a tight race for the White House. The timing is also crucial as Walz faces criticism for claiming he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, which resulted in 500 deaths.

ALSO READ | Tim Walz wants the Electoral College ’to go’: Is it time to switch to a popular vote?

The allegations against Walz

In a phone interview with The Post, Wang revealed that she had fallen deeply in love with Tim Walz when he was a young high school English teacher in Foshan, Guangdong province, China. She expected that their passionate affair in 1989 would culminate in a proposal, but instead, it ended in heartbreak that led her to consider suicide.

Clarifying that Walz implied that he intended to marry her, Wang said, “I was deeply insulted, hurt and I had to leave that place, because many people knew that we had a relationship.”

After returning to the United States, he continued to send her letters throughout the summer, even asking for a passport-sized photo, which she believed indicated he was helping her obtain a visa.

“His lack of character, as a man, a responsible person who had worked in education or [the] military,” she added.

“I thought he also loved me. I loved him.”

‘Felt being treated as a prostitute’

In an “open letter” she wrote and shared with The New York Post, Wang sought to warn Americans about Walz. She described their initial relationship as similar to that of a married couple, enjoying tea and holding hands in private to avoid her father’s scrutiny.

The young couple spent time singing karaoke, and Walz lavished Wang with gifts, including gold jewellery and high-waisted blue jeans. However, Wang’s letter indicated that he later became “the type of man against whom a mother warns her daughter not to get involved.”

“While it is true, you had not promised marriage before you had arrived back in China, marriage was what I had assumed,” she wrote.

“Too, marriage was what you had led me to believe - as well as led others to believe, including that female colleague of yours with whom we had tea.”

Wang recounted a disagreement the couple had over whether her feelings for Walz were genuine or if she merely wanted a visa, which “shocked” her because she had been willing to give up her entire life in China to be with him in Nebraska.

“I was giving it up to be with Tim, to get married and start a family,” Wang told the Daily Mail.

“Knowing now that he wasn’t going to marry me made me feel cheap and common, as if I was being treated like a prostitute.”

ALSO READ | Dirty politics: Why did Tim Walz joke about JD Vance and couch sex?

‘Does not have character for one of the most important jobs’

The couple never saw each other again, but Walz returned to China in 1993 as the head of an annual summer student programme that connected high school students from Nebraska and Minnesota with Chinese institutions. He married Gwen Whipple after returning to the US in 1993, and they have two children together.

Now a teacher and translator in Europe, Wang felt compelled to speak out about what she termed Walz’s “selfish” behaviour and lack of transparency.

With Walz now the Democratic vice presidential nominee, she stated, “This is a very crucial moment in history and a man like this does not appear to have the character and integrity to do one of the most important jobs in the world.”

As Kamala Harris’s choice for running mate, Walz is expected to face backlash in light of these allegations, which may further complicate the Democratic presidential hopeful’s campaign, especially as she has already been drawn into contentious headlines due to controversies surrounding her husband, Doug Emhoff.

Republicans call for an investigation

In light of the revelations regarding Tim Walz’s connections with Jenna Wang, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio is calling for a thorough investigation.

He said that Walz should be scrutinised due to his relationship with Wang, stating that “voters deserve to know” the full extent of any potential implications just a few days before the election.

“If the story today in (The Daily Mail) is true, Tim Walz had a relationship with the daughter of a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official and remained in contact with her for years after,” Rubio posted on X.

“If you aspire to be Vice-President of the United States, voters deserve to know everything about any and every link you have to the CCP.

Rubio serves as the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and is also a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

Further, the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability has requested information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding Walz’s connections to China. They expressed concerns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could potentially influence the White House should he be elected.