新披露的报告与明尼苏达州长蒂姆·沃尔兹关于他中国之行的说法相矛盾，特别是有关1989年他在香港担任教职的说法。沃尔兹此前声称，作为民主党副总统候选人的副手，在北京天安门广场民主抗议活动期间被中国政府杀害数百名抗议者时，他曾在中国香港的大学授课。
此信息与沃尔兹与中国的关系问题相关联，距离在纽约举行的副总统辩论只有两天的时间。俄亥俄州参议员 JD 好莱坞（JD Vance）的共和党盟友已暗示可能会利用沃尔兹的中国经历，在辩论中攻击其对手。在投身政治之前，沃尔兹作为教师经常组织并带领团队访问中国。
先前沃尔兹的说法是他于1989年5月“造访”了香港，并在事件开始发生前就已经离开。他在2014年的国会-行政部门中国委员会的庆典上声称，在庆祝天安门广场抗议活动爆发25周年纪念时，他确实记得一些具体细节。“在我是一名年轻人的时候，我计划在佛山的一所广东高中担任教师，并在1989年五月在香港。”他说。
他还强调自己在1989年6月4日，即天安门广场发生的那一天，在香港。他解释说：“在我离开后，所有外部通讯都中断了 – 美国之音- 并且没有任何电话或电子邮件等通讯手段。所以我在一定程度上脱离了联系。当我离开时，需要一个月的时间才知道柏林墙倒塌的消息。”
沃尔兹在2009年的一个听证会上声称自己当时正在香港筹备前往佛山一所中学教学工作，并说“目睹6月4日的事件发生至今难忘，我们承诺永远不会忘记”。他继续阐述：“作为任何国家向前迈进的关键，见证和准确讲述历史至关重要。”
媒体报告中重复了沃尔兹在天安门广场抗议期间在港的说法。而《华盛顿自由哨兵报》（conservative news outlet）重新揭示的同期报纸报道则显示，当时的沃尔兹其实身处内布拉斯加州，而非香港。一份1989年5月16日的艾尔利恩市联合时报（Alliance Times-Herald）期刊照片中出现了他的身影，在内布拉斯加州的一处国民警卫队储藏室参观。文中提到，沃尔兹将在一位退休士兵离职后接管该储藏室的工作，并即将搬到艾尔利恩。
另一篇来自同一时期内布拉斯加州媒体的新闻文章指出，他计划于当年八月初前往中国旅行，但具体日期不详。
在被CNN询问是否确实在1989年天安门广场抗议期间造访香港时，好莱坞团队无法提供证据证实沃尔兹的说法。与沃尔兹关系密切的一名消息人士告诉CNN：“当沃尔兹讨论这个问题时所表达的点是，世界教学计划的一些人曾考虑在天安门事件后退出，但因为他相信中国人学习美国民主和历史很重要，所以继续进行了该课程。”
矛盾情况首次由明尼苏达公共广播电台新闻与APM报告报道。据称，沃尔兹也夸大了自己对中国访问的次数。2016年的一次采访中，他表示已去过中国约30次；而在国会-行政部门中国委员会另一次会议上，他声称已经去过香港“数十次”。然而好莱坞竞选团队的发言人回应说，这个数字可能更接近于15次。
沃尔兹在中国的生活自1989年以来一直占据着重要位置。在1994年6月4日，即天安门广场抗议事件五周年之际，他与妻子格温·沃尔兹（Gwen Walz）结婚，并计划在这一纪念日举行婚礼，因为“他想拥有一段永远难忘的日期”。他们随后度蜜月旅行到中国，这是他在作为教师之前在国会任职期间定期进行的一项活动。
自从加入好菜坞竞选团队后，沃尔兹较少谈到中国或自己的旅行历史。共和党人在近日将注意力集中于沃尔兹与中国的关系上，表示这需要进一步审查。
唐纳德·特朗普竞选团队高级顾问杰森·米勒（Jason Miller）周一表示，他预计瓦斯将被攻击他的中国旅行历史。“天安门蒂姆！有趣的是他们现在改变这个，我们原计划在明天晚上的辩论中对他提出这一问题！还有其他你想坦白的事情吗？蒂姆？”他在社交媒体上对好莱坞竞选团队关于沃尔兹对中国访问情况的澄清做出回应。
国会共和党人也加入了特朗普竞选团队的行列，质疑沃尔兹与中国的关系。众议院监督委员会主席詹姆斯·科默（James Comer）周一向国土安全部长亚历杭德罗·马约拉斯（Alejandro Mayorkas）发出传票，要求提供与“举报披露”所提供的指控有关的文件，即声称沃尔兹与中国共产党有联系。这一传票是众议院共和党人在8月开始的调查的一部分，该调查始于他加入民主党候选名单之后。
关于沃尔兹中国和香港旅行说法的一系列不一致标志着自他成为民主党副总统候选人以来州长过去言论出现错误的最新实例。在2018年视频中误称自己曾“处理过战争中的自动武器”，但后来又表示错过的那次。当月，格温·沃尔茨（Gwen Walz）澄清称，在她丈夫声称他们使用了体外受精来生育后不久，夫妻二人实际使用的是除体外受精之外的其他生育技术。更正：本文及标题已更新以准确反映蒂姆·沃尔兹过去对中国访问的说法；他声称在1989年时曾前往香港。文章内容已经加入额外信息进行了补充和更新。
新闻来源：www.cnn.com
原文地址：Walz’s claim that he was in Hong Kong 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 was in Hong Kong 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 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 the region 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 further claimed in a June 2019 radio interview that he was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989 – the day of the Tiananmen Square massacre. “I was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, when, of course, Tiananmen Square happened. And I was in China after that. It was very strange ‘cause, of course, all outside transmissions were, were blocked – Voice of America – and, of course, there was no, no phones or email or anything. So I was kind of out of touch. It took me a month to know the Berlin Wall had fallen when I was living there,” he said. During a 2009 hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to commemorate the Tiananmen Square protests, Walz claimed that he was in Hong Kong at the time, preparing to go teach in China. “Twenty years ago today, I was in Hong Kong preparing to go to Foshan to teach at Foshan No. 1 Middle School,” he said. “To watch what happened at the end of the day on June 4 was something that many of us will never forget, we pledge to never forget, and bearing witness and accurate telling of history is absolutely crucial for any nation to move forward.” Walz’s claims that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests have 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 Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests, the Harris campaign was unable to provide evidence to substantiate Walz’s claim. A source close to Walz told CNN that “the point Gov. Walz is making when he discusses this is that some folks in the World Teach program discussed dropping out after Tiananmen Square, but he continued on with the program because he believed it was important for the Chinese people to learn about American democracy and American history.” 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 traveled 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 and Hong Kong 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. CORRECTION: This story and headline have been updated to accurately reflect Tim Walz’s past claims of travel to Asia in 1989. He claimed he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests. This story has been updated with additional information.
