WASHINGTON — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz astoundingly claimed Friday that one nation may have the “moral authority” to de-escalate the conflict between Iran and Israel after the Jewish state carried out airstrikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities and eliminated key military leaders.
“It might be the Chinese,” Walz suggested to ex-Biden White House official Neera Tanden during an event at the Center for American Progress (CAP). “And that goes against everything they say they’re trying to do in terms of the balance of power.”
Earlier, Walz had asked: “Who is the voice in the world that can negotiate some type of agreement in this? Who holds the moral authority, who holds the ability to do that? Because we are not seen as a neutral actor and we maybe never were.”
China’s record of human rights abuses against its Uyghur Muslim population has been well-documented by government watchdogs, in congressional inquiries and through the work of other international aid and advocacy organizations.
The US Intelligence Community has also drawn attention to coordination between Beijing, Moscow and Tehran to “exacerbate divisions in US society for their own benefit.”
During the 2024 campaign, Walz caught flak for fibs he told about his own visits to China, some of which occurred while he was an active US military service member.
The governor was also believed to be a prime “target” for Communist Party influence operations, a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower revealed last year in the weeks before Election Day.
Walz, 61, worked as an English teacher and briefly dated a Communist Party official’s daughter in China years before his first run for public office.
He chose to marry his wife, Gwen, on the fifth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre — which she claimed was done so he would “have a date he’ll always remember,” according to a report in the Guardian.
Walz also spoke fondly of his experiences under China’s economic system in 1991, telling the Alliance Times-Herald newspaper in his home state of Nebraska: “It means that everyone is the same and everyone shares.”
“The doctor and the construction worker make the same. The Chinese government and the place they work for provide housing and 14 kg — or about 30 pounds — of rice per month. They get food and housing.”
CAP hosted the failed VP candidate “to offer ideas on how to respond to this moment,” as one of several “leaders who can govern effectively and break through the noise to connect across political lines.”
“Here we are with the, with the Middle East back on fire in a way that has now expanded,” Walz said of Israel’s targeted strikes eliminating at least 20 senior Iranian military officials and six scientists connected to its nuclear program.
“Iran has to retaliate, in their mind, I’m sure,” he added — which the regime did by launching 150 missiles at the Jewish state.
Walz noted that he was in Congress when former President Barack Obama’s administration agreed the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to relax economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on their uranium enrichment.
President Trump withdrew from that deal in 2018, but last month, UN investigators discovered that Iran had been in violation of the non-proliferation agreement regarding its nuclear program, leading to a formal censure in the international body by France, Germany and the UK.
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