周二晚间，民主党副总统候选人汤姆·沃尔兹 (Tim Walz) 承认过去他关于自己在香港天安门广场事件期间的说法“措辞有误”。这位明尼苏达州州长表示，他在香港度过了1989年夏天围绕天安门广场抗议活动的时期，并非在6月4日那次致命的北京事件发生的具体时候。
沃尔兹的错误说法受到新闻报道的质疑，与他过去宣称自己恰好在香港局势加剧时的说法相冲突。在与共和党副总统候选人 JD 阿尔塞 (JD Vance) 的辩论中，沃尔兹解释说，自己的误导性陈述源自“言辞上的热情”，而不是故意欺骗美国民众。“我并不完美，”他表示，“有时我会显得有些冒失。”他补充道：“很多时候，我言辞会过于激昂。”
副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯 (Kamala Harris) 的核心竞选论点之一是，前任总统唐纳德·特朗普可能无法可靠地说明事实。沃尔兹错误声称自己在香港发生历史性的世界事件时在场的漏洞将为共和党人带来利用的机会。
辩论中，沃尔兹试图将话题引向自己作为一名年轻教师，在中国为了解其他国家文化带学生学习的经历。他在大学毕业后于1989年首次访问中国，并曾在香港停留。他通过哈佛WorldTeach项目在中国南方城市佛山的一所高中担任英语和美国历史与文化的老师。
在2月播出的“Pod Save America”播客节目中，沃尔兹表示自己是在六四事件发生的6月4日身在香港。“我更加有动力去中国大陆学习中国不同的文化。”他说。这次暴力事件据信导致了数千人死亡，并严重加剧了北京与其国际关系之间的紧张局势。
访问香港的时间点首先在2023年1月初由明尼苏达公共广播电台（Minnesota Public Radio）提出质疑，该媒体报道称沃尔兹那个月前往中国。在周二被问及这一矛盾时，哈里斯-沃尔兹竞选团队确认了这一“错误的描述”，但未解释原因。他们表示，沃尔兹去中国的次数可能接近15次，而不是过去声称的30次。
根据一位熟悉沃尔兹讲话情况的人士透露，他当时想要表达的是，在天安门广场事件后，一些项目成员讨论过退出，但他继续参与这个计划，因为他相信向中国人民介绍美国民主和历史至关重要。“这是关于理解世界。”沃尔兹在辩论中说。
长久以来，沃尔兹一直是批评中国人权记录、贸易做法以及南海日益增长的挑衅行为的主要声音。然而他也提到了美中两国之间潜在的合作领域，美国与中国的双边关系被形容为世界上最重要的关系之一。
“我不认为中国需要成为一个对立的关系，”他在2016年的一段视频采访中说。“共和党支持对中国及其执政的共产党采取强硬立场的人将利用沃尔兹与中国联系的经验作为质疑其可信度的理由。这一经验并未在哈里斯竞选团队网站上的沃尔兹简介中提及。
周一，来自肯塔基州、负责监督和问责委员会的共和党众议员詹姆斯·科默 (James Comer) 向美国国土安全部长亚历杭德罗·梅奥卡斯（Alejandro Mayorkas）发出了与沃尔兹“与中国共产党联系”的相关信息相关的传票。
在辩论开始前不久，特朗普竞选团队发出了指责沃尔兹“过于亲密接触中国”，并指出他报告的30次访问的电子邮件。共和党人还对沃尔兹其他不准确陈述进行了攻击，尽管唐纳德·特朗普定期传播错误信息。
8月，沃尔兹，在军中服役24年但从未被部署到战区时，说他在“2018年由哈里斯团队流传的一段视频”中“措辞有误”，谈论在战争中使用武器。Vance指控沃尔兹撒谎，因为他暗示自己和他的妻子桂文 (Gwen) 通过体外受精的方式生育了孩子。他们实际上采用了另一种辅助生殖技术，称为宫内人工授精。哈里斯-沃尔兹竞选团队的发言人表示，之前沃尔兹提到的“常用理解上的缩略语”指的是生育治疗。
以上信息摘自原文并进行了适当的优化与调整，旨在符合中文阅读习惯，并保持内容完整性和准确性。
新闻来源：www.nbcnews.com
原文地址：Walz admits misspeaking when he said he was in Hong Kong during Tiananmen Square crackdown
新闻日期：2024-10-02
原文摘要：
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz conceded Tuesday night that he “misspoke” in the past when he claimed that he was in Hong Kong during the crackdown in Tiananmen Square in which China’s military attacked and killed pro-democracy demonstrators. The Minnesota governor said that he had been in Hong Kong during the summer of the Tiananmen Square protests, but not in June 1989, when the crackdown took place in and around the square in Beijing, the Chinese capital. The admission comes after news accounts contradicted Walz’s past contention that he was in Hong Kong as the deadly protests unfolded. At the debate with Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Walz said the misstatements were born of rhetorical exuberance rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead Americans. “I’ve not been perfect,” Walz said. “I’m a knucklehead at times.” “Many times I will talk a lot,” he added. “I will get caught up in the rhetoric.” One of Vice President Kamala Harris’ core arguments in her presidential campaign is that former President Donald Trump can’t be trusted to tell the truth. Walz’s false claim that he was in Hong Kong during an epochal event in world history creates a vulnerability that Republicans will surely look to exploit. During the debate, Walz sought to refocus the question into an answer about his role as a young teacher who took groups of students to China to study a different culture. Walz first went to China after graduating from college in 1989, stopping first in what was then the British colony of Hong Kong. He spent a year teaching English and American history and culture at a high school in the southern Chinese city of Foshan through Harvard’s WorldTeach program. In a February episode of the podcast “Pod Save America,” Walz said that he was in Hong Kong “on June 4 when Tiananmen happened.” He said he was all the more motivated to go to mainland China after the violent episode, which is estimated to have resulted in thousands of deaths and severely strained Beijing’s international relations. The timing of his arrival in Hong Kong was first questioned on Monday by Minnesota Public Radio, which cited an August 1989 article from a Nebraska newspaper saying Walz was leaving for China that month. Asked about the discrepancy on Tuesday, the Harris-Walz campaign did not dispute that Walz misspoke but did not explain why. The campaign said that the number of trips Walz has made to China is likely closer to 15, rather than the 30 that he has claimed in the past. According to a source familiar with Walz’s comments, the point he was trying to make is that some people in his teaching program discussed dropping out after the Tiananmen Square crackdown, “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.” “This is about trying to understand the world,” Walz said Tuesday at the debate. Walz has long been a vocal critic of China’s human rights record, as well as its trade practices and growing aggression in the South China Sea. But he has also talked about potential areas for cooperation between the U.S. and China, who are often described as having the most important bilateral relationship in the world. “I don’t fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship,” he said in a video interview in 2016. Republicans who favor taking a hard line on China and its ruling Communist Party have seized on Walz’s China experience, which is not mentioned in his biography on the Harris campaign website, as reason for suspicion. On Monday, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for information related to Walz’s “connections with the CCP.” Shortly before the debate on Tuesday, the Trump campaign sent out an email accusing Walz of being “cozy with China,” noting his reported 30 visits. Republicans have also attacked Walz over other inaccurate statements, even as Trump regularly spreads misinformation. In August, Walz, who spent 24 years in the military but was never deployed to a combat zone, said he “misspoke” in a 2018 video circulated by the Harris campaign when he talked about using weapons “in war.” Vance also accused Walz of lying when he implied that he and his wife, Gwen, had their children via in vitro fertilization. They used another form of assisted reproductive technology called intrauterine insemination. A Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson said Walz “was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments” in his previous comments.
