Walz's honeymoon with China gets fresh scrutiny as Harris camp blasts 'lying' critics

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is facing scrutiny from Republicans over what they say are pro-China remarks, including an interview in which the Democratic vice presidential nominee said he does not agree with the idea there needs to be an adversarial relationship with the communist government.

Walz worked briefly in China as a teacher, traveling to Guangdong in 1989 for a teach abroad program to teach English and American history. He later became a member of Congress and governor of Minnesota.

The Wall Street Journal, citing local media reports, reported that one trip to China doubled as his honeymoon in 1994, and he planned his wedding date to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

In an interview from 2016, Walz said he believed there was potential for a strong relationship between China and the U.S., although he also said China needed to play "by the rules" on human rights and the environment.

FORMER MINNESOTA LAWMAKERS UNLOAD ON HARRIS' ‘PARTISAN’ VP PICK TIM WALZ: ‘VERY THIN-SKINNED’

"I've lived in China and, as I've said, I've been there about 30 times. ... I don't fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship. I totally disagree, and I think we need to stand firm on what they're doing in the South China Sea, but there's many areas of cooperation we can work on," he said in the interview with Agri-Pulse Communications.

In the interview, he noted he was on the congressional executive commission on China, a bipartisan commission that focuses on human rights.

Walz taught the same year as the Tiananmen Square crackdown by the communist regime against pro-democracy protesters. He later started a company to organize trips to China and, as he noted in his