The daughter of a Chinese Communist Party official says she had a fling with Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz while he was teaching in China in the late 1980s, and says she was very upset when it ended.
Jenna Wang recounted her story to multiple media outlets about how she fell in love with Mr. Walz while he was in Foshan, Guangdong province, China, teaching English through the nonprofit WorldTeach in the late ’80s. Ms. Wang taught at a nearby school.
Ms. Wang said her father, Bin Hui, would’ve been very upset with her if he found out she had an affair with a Westerner, so the two kept the relationship a secret.
“The fact we couldn’t touch or kiss in public just made it all the more exciting and intense when we were finally alone,” she told DailyMail.com.
She said she assumed she would marry the future Minnesota governor and start a family with him in America, but that turned out not to be the case. She told the outlet that the end of the affair left her suicidal.
The downfall of the relationship was an argument over whether she really loved Mr. Walz or only wanted a visa to the U.S.
“I was giving it up to be with Tim, to get married and start a family,” Ms. Wang said. “Knowing now that he wasn’t going to marry me made me feel cheap and common, as if I was being treated like a prostitute.”
The two never saw each other again, but Mr. Walz continued to spend time in China by organizing trips for students from Nebraska and Minnesota.
Ms. Wang wound up emigrating to Italy a few years after they stopped talking.
Mr. Walz’s time in China has come into question before, when he said he was there during the Tiananmen Square protests from April to June 1989. However, he didn’t start with the nonprofit until August 1989.
He later called himself a knucklehead during the vice presidential debate earlier this month for mixing up the dates.
The Washington Times has reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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