Lawmakers and China experts told the Daily Caller they have grave concerns about Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz and his close ties with Beijing.

Since Vice President Kamala Harris chose the Minnesota governor as her running mate, he has largely received positive coverage as “folksy,” “joyful” and a “midwestern dad.” But critics have honed in on Walz’s past with China, which includes a honeymoon to the country, a wedding on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and the praising of the country’s communist system. China watchers believe that Walz’s relationship with China should be of concern as he inches closer to the White House.

“Governor Walz should answer to the American people why he took 30 trips to China, mostly paid for in part or in full by the Chinese Communist Party. But more importantly, Kamala Harris should explain why she supports radical left-wing policies like ending fossil fuels and slashing our defense budget—policies that would be a gift to China,” Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton told the Daily Caller.

In 2023 the FBI uncovered Chinese police station’s in five states across the U.S.

Tim Walz has lived in Nebraska, Minnesota, and China. He has visited China over 30 times and considers them an ally.

Kamala Harris was the U.S. Senator of California and lived in San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/3q0ACX9y2y

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) August 18, 2024

Walz has visited China at least 30 times throughout his life, according to the New York Times. One of the trips to the country occurred when he was a fellow at Macau Polytechnic University, a Chinese state-run institution, according to the National Review. Harris’ running mate held the fellow position while he was a member of Congress.

One man, Shad, who claimed to have joined Walz on one of his trips to the country, shared concerns about his affinity for the Chinese government with Alpha News, a local Minnesota outlet.

“It was almost a daily revelation of how much he adores the communist regime,” the former student told Alpha News.

“He’s a Maoist to the core and should not be underestimated,” Shad, who asked the outlet not to use his last name, said to Alpha News.

Walz’s first visit to the country occurred in 1989 during that fellowship and not long after the Tiananmen Square massacre, multiple outlets reported.

The Minnesota governor married his wife on June 4, 1994, the fifth anniversary of the massacre, the BBC reported. Walz’s wife later said that “he wanted to have a date he’ll always remember.”

“It’s disturbing that the Democratic Party is lining up to nominate Tim Walz after he brushed off socialism as ‘neighborliness’ and praised Chinese communism as a system in which ‘everyone shares.’ He fits perfectly with Kamala Harris, who has repeatedly called for a society that creates equal outcomes for all Americans,” the Vice President of Heritage Action, Ryan Walker, told the Caller. 

While teaching a high school social studies class in 1991, Walz praised the Chinese communist system. Walz taught his class that “everyone shares” and gets free food and housing from the Chinese communist government, according to the resurfaced newspaper piece first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

The teacher went on to praise how people paid no taxes in the late 1970s and got 30 pounds of free food per month, the newspaper article states.

“This appears not to be some quirky snapshot of Walz’s 1990s thinking that he has since renounced, as it is echoed in the food price controls proposed recently by the Harris-Walz campaign, which have been slammed as naïve and destructive by critics across the political spectrum,” Adam Savit, director of America First Policy Institute’s China policy initiative, told the Caller.

🚨Americans deserve to fully understand how deep Governor Walz’s relationship with China goes.👇

Governor Walz:

Visited China at least 30 times.

Served as a fellow at a Chinese institution that maintains a devotion to the CCP.

Spoke alongside the President of a Chinese… https://t.co/yDhKc3PxJR

— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) August 16, 2024

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer penned a letter on Aug. 16 on behalf of Congressional Republicans to launch an investigation into Walz and his ties to China. Comer asked FBI Director Christopher Wray for all documents relating to any Chinese entities that the now-governor may have interacted with while on his trips to the country. The chairman explained in his letter that it had come to the committee’s attention that Walz had “longstanding connections to CCP-connected entities and officials.”

“Governor Walz’s apparent fascination with and connections to the Chinese Communist Party are troubling to the Committee,” Comer told the Caller in a statement. “The Chinese Communist Party actively exploits trips to China and positions at their universities in an effort to co-opt influential figures to the benefit of the communist regime and to destabilize America.”

“What’s good for the CCP is often bad for America. The CCP appears to have recognized something valuable in Governor Walz, and every American should be concerned about his soft-on-China history,” he continued.

When Walz was 25 years old, he told one of his former college professors that he was “being treated like a king” in China, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

“No matter how long I live, I’ll never be treated that well again,” Walz said at the time to Times-Herald. “They gave me more gifts than I could bring home. It was an excellent experience.”

Harris’ running mate also previously spoke on the relationship between China and the United States, saying in 2016 that it does not necessarily need to be “adversarial.” On another occasion, the Minnesota governor explained that he is “pretty friendly with China.”

Tim Walz: “I’m pretty friendly with China” pic.twitter.com/1aZFzW6TW5

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) August 8, 2024

Since Harris tapped Walz to be her running mate about two weeks ago, the governor hasn’t answered questions about the China concerns. Similarly, the vice president has not done a sit-down interview or a press conference since launching her campaign for president. Harris is yet to unveil a policy platform, leaving the American people in the dark on the vice president’s stance on a variety of issues, such as foreign policy. (RELATED: ‘Dam Is Going To Break’: Trump Insiders Forecast Counterattack Against Kamala’s Basement Campaign)

“I expect a potential Harris administration to continue the Biden policies toward China, as those policies reflected the new bipartisan consensus generated by Trump’s successful China policy which relied on heavy tariffs, strategic decoupling, and export controls to create leverage against the CCP regime. But how would we know?” Savit said.

“Harris has avoided any substantive interviews in the near-month since she became the de facto Democrat nominee. China is the most important challenge to our future security and prosperity, and we have no idea about what one of the major party presidential candidates proposes to do about it. We need answers,” he continued.