Minnesota governor and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz found himself in hot water at the debate with JD Vance on Tuesday after responding to questions regarding his claims about being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989—claims that have come under fire for being inaccurate.
Walz has previously asserted that he was present in Hong Kong during the pro-democracy demonstrations that culminated in the violent crackdown on June 4, 1989.However, recent news reports contradict this narrative, indicating that he was in Nebraska at the time and only departed for China to teach high school in August of that year.
When pressed about these discrepancies, Walz admitted that he had “misspoken” and referred to himself as “a knucklehead at times.” He acknowledged the mix-up, saying, “I can get caught up in the rhetoric.”
In response to a report revealing that he was not in China during the infamous crackdown, Walz insisted, “I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests, and from that I learned a lot about what it means to be in governance.”
A CNN report shared a 2019 radio interview where Walz claimed to have been in Hong Kong on the day of the massacre, despite evidence suggesting he was still in Nebraska at that time.
The Tiananmen Square protests were a pivotal moment in China’s history, with thousands of pro-democracy students gathering for seven weeks in Beijing. The protests ended tragically when the Chinese military opened fire on demonstrators, resulting in an estimated 500 deaths.