新发现的文件与明尼苏达州长提姆·沃尔兹关于他前往中国的陈述相矛盾。此前，他曾表示民主党的副总统候选人曾在1989年，也就是在天安门广场抗议活动结束时中国政府杀害数百名抗议者后不久的一次抗议活动中赴华，担任广东佛山一所高中的讲师。
沃尔兹曾声称自己在“89年5月”访问了香港，并且在那之前数周的北京天安门广场事件中展开。2014年的国会-行政部门中国委员会纪念天安门事件25周年庆祝会上，在成为明尼苏达州议员时，他似乎记起了那次对中国的具体经历：“那时我还是个年轻人，原计划前往广东佛山一所高中教学。我曾于1989年5月在香港旅行。在那场冲突爆发之际，我们中的一些人去香港进行了实地考察。”“我能记得当时香港的火车站情景。”
沃尔兹2014年的说法在他对中国访问的叙述中被多次媒体报道过。但《华盛顿自由哨兵报》这一保守派新闻网站首次出现了与之矛盾的信息：当时沃尔兹实际上在内布拉斯加州。1989年5月16日出版的一期《Alliance Times-Herald》杂志上，刊载了一张沃尔兹参观内布拉斯加国家卫队仓库的照片，并配有注释，指出他将接替一名即将退休的军人担任仓库管理工作，并“即将搬往艾尔阿莱恩”。
另一家内布拉斯加州的出版物在同年4月的一篇文章中也报告了沃尔兹计划赴华旅行的事。文章提到他打算在当年8月初前往中国。
CNN询问是否能证实沃尔兹的说法，哈里斯竞选团队无法提供证据证明其真实性。这一发现由明尼苏达公共广播电台和 APM 报告首次报道。
此外，沃尔兹似乎夸大了自己访问中国的次数。2016年的一次采访中他曾表示自己访问中国大约30次；而他在另一次国会-行政部门中国委员会的会议中声称曾数十次访问香港。竞选团队发言人向CNN确认：沃尔兹实际前往中国的次数可能接近于15次。
自第一次到中国旅行后，中国在沃尔兹的生活扮演了重要角色。他和妻子格温·沃尔兹（Gwen Walz）在1994年6月4日天安门广场抗议事件五周年纪念日结婚，并选择了那个日子作为他们的婚礼日期“因为他希望记住这个特殊的日子”。之后他们新婚蜜月期间带领学生赴华学习旅行，这是他在担任教师之前和国会议员任期中定期进行的活动。
自从加入哈里斯竞选团队以来，沃尔兹较少谈论中国或其与该国家的关系。共和党人近期将关注点聚焦于沃尔兹与中国之间的联系。唐纳德·特朗普总统的高级顾问杰森·米勒（Jason Miller）在回应哈里斯竞选团队对沃尔兹旅行记录澄清时表示：“天安门提姆！他们现在改变说辞真有趣，我们原打算在今晚辩论中直接指出这个问题！”至于沃尔兹还有什么隐藏的事实需要承认吗？
国会议员还加入特朗普竞选团队质疑沃尔兹与中国的关系。众议院监督委员会主席詹姆斯·科尔曼（James Comer）周一发出了对国土安全部长阿莱杭德罗·马约斯基（Alejandro Mayorkas）的传票，要求提供与沃尔兹相关的文件，这是根据“向委员会提供的举报人披露”的指控展开的调查的一部分，指控称沃尔兹与中国共产党有联系。传票是众议院共和党近期一系列举措中最新的一项，旨在通过8月启动的调查突出沃尔兹与中国的关系。
沃尔兹关于中国之旅的叙述不一致是他作为民主党副总统候选人上台后出现的一系列错误中的最新实例。8月时，哈里斯竞选团队发言人表示沃尔兹在2018年的视频中“说错话”，提及他曾经拥有并处理过用于“战争”中的武器。“后来，格温·沃尔兹澄清称，他们夫妇使用了其他生育技术，而不是试管婴儿，丈夫曾提到他们用过IVF。”
新闻来源：www.cnn.com
原文地址：Walz’s claim that he was in China during Tiananmen Square protests undercut by unearthed newspaper reports
新闻日期：2024-10-01
原文摘要：
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 traveled to China 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 signaled 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 had 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 China honoring the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, Walz, then a Minnesota congressman, appeared to recall specific details of his trip to China at that time. “As a young man, I was just going to teach high school in Foshan in Guangdong, and was in Hong Kong in May of ’89,” he said. “And as the events were unfolding, several of us went in. And I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.” “The opportunity to be in a Chinese high school at that critical time seemed to me to be really important. And it was a very interesting summer to say the least. Because if you recall, as we moved in that summer and further on and the news blackouts and things that went on, you certainly can’t black out news from people if they want to get it,” he continued. Walz’s 2014 claim that he visited China during the Tiananmen Square protests has been repeated in media reports. But contemporaneous newspaper reports first resurfaced by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet, place Walz in Nebraska around that time. An issue of the Alliance Times-Herald dated May 16, 1989, features a photo of Walz touring a Nebraska National Guard storeroom. In the photo’s caption, the paper notes that Walz “will take over the job” of staffing the storeroom from a retiring guardsman and “will be moving to Alliance,” Nebraska. A separate newspaper article about Walz’s planned trip to China published by a Nebraska-based outlet in April 1989 reported that he planned to travel to China in early August of that year. When asked by CNN if Walz was in China during the Tiananmen Square protests, the Harris campaign was unable to provide evidence to substantiate Walz’s claim. The contradiction was first reported by Minnesota Public Radio News and APM Reports. Walz also appears to have exaggerated the number of times he’s travelled to China. In a 2016 interview, he said he’s visited China “about 30 times.” In another meeting of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, in 2016, Walz claimed to have visited Hong Kong “dozens and dozens and dozens of times.” When asked for clarification on how many times Walz traveled to China, a Harris campaign spokesperson told CNN the number of trips Walz took to China is “likely closer to 15.” China has long held a significant place in Walz’s life since he first traveled to the country in 1989. Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, were married on June 4, 1994 – the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and spent their honeymoon leading students in an educational trip to China, something Walz did regularly during his time as a teacher before joining Congress. Ahead of their wedding, Gwen Walz told the Nebraska-based Star-Herald newspaper that they planned to get married on the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary because “he wanted to have a date he’ll always remember.” Since joining the Harris campaign, Walz has not spoken at length about China or his history of travel to the country. Republicans in recent days have circled Walz’s ties to China as a target for further scrutiny. Jason Miller, a senior advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign, indicated Monday that he expects Vance to attack Walz for his history of trips to China. “Tiananmen Tim! Funny they’re changing this now – we were planning on calling him out for this at the debate tomorrow night! Anything else you want to fess up to, Tim???,” Miller said in a social media post in response to clarification offered by the Harris campaign about Walz’s trips to China. Congressional Republicans have joined the Trump campaign in calling into question Walz’s ties to China. House Oversight Chairman James Comer subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday for documents related to Walz as part of allegations made by “whistleblower disclosures” provided to the committee that Walz has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The subpoena is the latest step by House Republicans to spotlight Walz’s ties to China through a probe that began in August shortly after he joined the Democratic ticket. The inconsistencies around Walz’s travel to China mark the latest instance in which the governor’s past comments have been revealed to be inaccurate since he became the Democratic vice presidential nominee. In August, a Harris campaign spokesperson said Walz “misspoke” in a 2018 video in which he said he handled assault weapons “in war.” Later that month, Gwen Walz clarified that the couple had used a fertility treatment other than in vitro fertilization to conceive after her husband had suggested they had used IVF.
