Chinese Pundits Like Walz Pragmatism In US Trade War

“Walz has strong stances in national security, environmental protection and human rights issues while seeking to maintain a pragmatic economic relationship with China,” a Shanxi-based columnist writes in a commentary.“It's not easy to simply label Walz as a dove or a hawk. It appears that he is willing to find a balance between pragmatism and principles.”

A Jiangxi-based commentator says the Trump and Biden administrations showed their arrogance and prejudice against China in the past eight years. He says the Harris-Walz administration may adopt a more rational and pragmatic approach on China issues.

A commentator called Taola said Chinese netizens have 99% good feeling on Walz while some of them even wish that Walz were the candidate for US president, not vice president.

Some other Chinese pundits criticized Republicans for attacking Walz. But they said they are not sure whether Walz will be able to change the anti-China sentiment in the US.

“When Walz asked Trump to end the trade war with China, he was only speaking for the sake of US interests,” Liu Yong, a Hubei-based military writer, says in an article.“Walz gave his opinions rationally and objectively.”

“It's ironic that a US politician who truly cares about the national interests of the US is now labeled as 'pro-China',” Liu says.“In the US, there is an outrageous phenomenon that anyone who is 'not being completely anti-China' is now called 'not being anti-China at all'.”

He stresses that Walz is not pro-China, noting that the candidate has from time to time criticized China.

Toeing the Foreign Ministry's official line, Liu says both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party should correct their anti-China mentality. He says Republicans are real villains while Democrats are hypocrites.

(In the Chinese idiom, there are three kinds of opponents: gentlemen, hypocrites and villains. The last two are equally nasty.)

“Walz's China experience can help the US government understand Chinese people's ideologies, behaviors and intentions,” a Henan-based columnist called Zewen says in an article.“This may have a positive impact on the communications between top leaders of the US and China.”

“Although his China stance is not as radical as that of Donald Trump, Walz will still take a hawkish stance against China,” Zewen adds.“If the Harris-Walz team wins the election, it's likely that Washington will continue the Biden administration's policy to suppress China on economic matters.”

He adds that Beijing does not really care who will become the next US president and vice president. He says Beijing only cares about the actual trend of Sino-US relations, and hopes that the US will resolve conflicts with China through dialogues.

Some other commentators said Beijing may favor the Harris-Walz team as Trump has vowed to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese goods if he wins.

Over the past two weeks, Republicans have expressed concerns about Walz's more than 30 visits to China. They demanded more information about his role as a teacher in China in the 1990s and his company that had organized US students to visit China for some years around the early 2000s.

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On August 16, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability launched an investigation into Walz's long-standing connections to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities and officials.

“Walz has visited China dozens of times, served as a fellow at a Chinese institution that maintains a devotion to the CCP, and spoke alongside the president of a Chinese organization the State Department exposed as a CCP effort to influence and co-opt local leaders,” James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and accountability, said in a press release.“The American people deserve to fully understand how deep Walz's relationship with China goes.”

Comer said the committee has sent a letter to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray to request information, documents and communications related to the CCP-connected entities and officials Walz has engaged and partnered with.

He said FBI briefers recently informed the committee that the bureau's Foreign Influence Task Force investigates CCP activity that is similar to China's engagement with Walz.

Read: US to tighten China chip squeeze with old Cold War rule

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