The man who seeks the second-highest elective office in the United States has come under scrutiny for his decades-long relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.
Walz, the vice-presidential running mate of Kamala Harris, will take center stage with Harris at the Democratic National Convention next week.
When cameras find their smiling faces, there won’t be officials from the Chinese government smiling next to them. But those officials have been at Walz events before.
Americans need to understand the relationship between the Minnesota governor and the Chinese, retired CIA operative Sam Faddis said on Washington Watch Thursday.
Enlightenment is no easy thing. Following the money will sometimes end at the truth, but in the case of Walz, it’s hard to find the funding source for an estimated 30 trips of leading students and others to China, Faddis told show host Jody Hice.
The Chinese sent a special diplomat to congratulate Walz, Faddis pointed out, when he was inaugurated as governor in 2019.
“The Chinese consulate sent a special representative to congratulate him and stand next to him. If you're a critic of China, that doesn't happen, and you don't keep going back and forth to China, right? We understand as a matter of commonsense what that means,” Faddis said.
Someone had to pay for trips with as many as 60 people. Faddis doesn’t believe that was Walz.
“His initial trip to China, when he taught there, was done in cooperation with and largely paid for by the Chinese. And at least one of the trips that he did early on also was sponsored by them. After that, where the money came from for 29 more visits to China remains unclear, but again, he was taking dozens of people,” Faddis said.
Seamus Bruner, the director of research for the Government Accountability Institute, told Hice earlier this week that local press reports showed that multiple trips were sponsored by the CCP.
"As a senior enlisted member of the National Guard, quite frankly I don't understand how he maintained that security clearance with 30 trips back and forth to communist China." (Sam Faddis on American Family Radio)
Faddis: Walz is ‘completely compromised’
Faddis spent most of his career running spies on the Asian continent. In Walz, he said, “you are looking at an individual that is completely compromised by the communist Chinese."
That doesn’t necessarily mean Walz has been selling state secrets, for example, Faddis said.
“We used to talk about this in terms of being pulled down a rabbit hole. How far are you compromised? Was he ever fully recruited by Chinese intelligence, and taking money from them, and run literally as a spy? I don't know. What is evident is that the man has had an incredibly cozy relationship with the Chinese government, not just the Chinese people,” Faddis said.
In a closely watched police state such as China, you can’t have one without the other.
“You just don't load up 60 Americans and go conduct these kinds of programs on Chinese soil. You have to have the approval and the cooperation of the Chinese government to do that. It's not a free society obviously. So that's 30 trips that one way or the other he was doing in cooperation with the Chinese government,” Faddis said.
For Walz to pull that off means he was “delivering the message that the Chinese Communist Party wants you to deliver.”
Hey, you Americans, tone it down
As the host on these trips, Walz would often tell students to tone down their American patriotism while in China, Bruner said.
Walz would also pass out copies Chairman Mao Zedong’s book, Faddis said. The book was a compilation of statements from speeches and writings by the father of the CCP.
Also known as “The Little Red Book,” it played a significant role in spreading Maoist ideology around the world. It is credited with inspiring communist revolutions outside of China with its influence on politics and culture in different countries.
“People that have come out online since who were with him at various points in China describe how he was constantly the guy insisting that other Americans not criticize the Chinese regime, not criticize its oppression of people. This has been the tenor of his commentary about China forever,” Faddis said.
Walz has continued to beat the drum, appearing at events in the United States that have been closely connected to the Chinese government, Faddis said.
A deep dive into the concept of “Elite Capture,” a goal of compromising powerful public officials and any other people of influence.
In China, the concept often begins through social networking and includes bribery, embezzlement and other forms of corruption.
The practice of controlling “rents” to gain access to advantageous land, contracts and licenses is also common.
“Anybody of significance in a target country -- and obviously we would be target No. 1 -- a politician, a corporate leader, a government official, anybody they think has pull, they work overtime to co-opt them through a whole host of entities that have labels like Chinese Friendship Association.
“There’s only one objective: just bend these people to the will of the Chinese,” Faddis said.
Walz: folksy and dangerous
That’s the type of friend to China who could soon be a heartbeat from the presidency of the United States.
“This is a guy who thinks the Chinese Communist Party is on the right side of history. We’re the bad guys. This is not your uncle from Nebraska who’s a good old-fashioned Midwestern boy,” Faddis said.
