EXCLUSIVE: Tim Walz Has A History Of Rubbing Elbows With Nonprofit Linked To Chinese Intel And Influence Agency
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has a long history of attending events organized by members of a nonprofit with connections to a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence and intelligence agency, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.
Since 2018, Walz has attended multiple events hosted by members of the Chinese American Association of Minnesota (CAAM) and related organizations, including one 2022 fundraiser for his gubernatorial campaign, according to a DCNF review of dozens of Chinese government announcements, Chinese-language news reports and social media posts.
Other media have detailed self-declared progressive Walz’s long-standing relationships with entities connected to Islamic extremism as well.
Since 2016, CAAM and another local nonprofit have been hosting the St. Paul branch of the “Overseas Chinese Service Center” (OCSC) program, which is a global network of institutions overseen by the Chinese government’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), the DCNF previously reported.
Among other things, the UFWD “collects intelligence, exerts control over overseas Chinese-language media outlets, seeks to influence Chinese diaspora groups, facilitates illicit technology transfer, and interferes in politics in other countries,” according to the House Select Committee on the CCP.
On at least one occasion, a member of the St. Paul, Minnesota OCSC also took part in meetings and training sessions organized by China’s national police authority, the DCNF found. The DCNF has reported on other Chinese government-linked operations, including a June 2024 investigation detailing how an online network run by a self-identified Chinese “cyber police” officer provides Chinese illegal immigrants with resources to get into the U.S. and evade border authorities.
CAAM did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Democratic vice presidential nominee’s dozens of trips to China as an educator have come under intense scrutiny from China hawks and Republican lawmakers like Kentucky Rep. James Comer, who recently sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting information pertaining to “any Chinese entity or individual with whom Mr. Walz may have engaged or partnered.”
“Tim Walz is exactly the sort of unscrupulous, China-friendly politician who the UFWD would target,” Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks told the DCNF.
“He took several trips to China, likely while holding an active security clearance, and House Republicans should join me in investigating whether he violated foreign travel disclosure requirements,” said Banks, who is a member of the House Select Committee on the CCP.
Both Walz’s office and the Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
‘Affects Every State’
The Minnesota OCSC branch is one of approximately 60 around the globe that the Chinese government’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office set up between 2014 and 2017. The DCNF previously identified six other OCSC branches located in California, Texas, Utah, North Carolina, Nebraska and Missouri.
Chinese government documents reveal that in 2018 the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office was reorganized under the UFWD, which the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has described as a Chinese “intelligence service” that conducts influence operations.
In light of its ties to the Chinese government, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey recently subpoenaed the St. Louis OCSC, telling the DCNF that he believes it is “high time that federal law enforcement, and the FBI specifically, take this threat seriously.”
“We have reason to believe the communist government of China is attempting to establish a network of outposts from which to project influence and target individuals who formerly lived in China,” Bailey said. “Public reports indicate that the threat of communist Chinese influence operations affects every state.”
‘The Chinese American Association of Minnesota’
In June 2022, individuals affiliated with the St. Paul OCSC attended a fundraiser for Walz’s gubernatorial reelection, according to an article published by Minnesota Chinese World, a Chinese-language media outlet that posts articles directly to the Chinese social media app WeChat, which is monitored and controlled by the CCP.
Chinese state media has identified Minnesota Chinese World as a news outlet that has “cooperated” with the UFWD to learn how to “tell China’s story well.” That specific phrasing is CCP terminology that often refers to “external propaganda work,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
China’s Foreign Ministry identified Minnesota Chinese World’s editor-in-chief as the “propaganda chief” of the St. Paul OCSC in a 2017 press release.
Minnesota Chinese World reported that the June 2022 Walz fundraiser was organized by CAAM’s former president, who remains active in the group, according to the nonprofit’s records. A photo from the event shows Walz sitting in the grass surrounded by a group of approximately 50 people, many of whom are members of CAAM and the St. Paul OCSC, the DCNF found.
Among those pictured are the St. Paul OCSC propaganda chief as well as CAAM’s current president and multiple former presidents, including one who the Chinese government has identified as a “person in charge” of the St. Paul OCSC.
Founded in 1951, CAAM bills itself as the “oldest and largest Chinese American community organization in Minnesota” and defines its mission as promoting Chinese culture and improving the quality of life for Chinese Minnesotans.
Nearly every year since 2005, the Minnesota State Arts Board has awarded taxpayer grants to CAAM’s dance troupe, government records show. The nonprofit got $15,000 in 2018, when Walz was elected governor, which grew to nearly $50,000 in 2025, according to the State Arts Board. The board’s members are appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the state senate.
The Chicago Chinese Consulate Consul General Hong Lei appointed CAAM and a related nonprofit to host the OCSC in St. Paul in 2016, according to state media reports.
Additionally, a prominent St. Paul OCSC member was part of an OCSC delegation that met with Ministry of Public Security officials during a 2018 trip to China, a DCNF analysis found. The DCNF compared profile pictures on CAAM’s website and photos from the 2018 meeting published by the Chinese government and state media outlets.
During that meeting, Ministry of Public Security officials demonstrated how OCSCs facilitate so-called “cross-border remote justice services,” the DCNF previously reported.
In 2023, the FBI arrested the head of a Manhattan Chinese nonprofit called America Changle Association, which allegedly operated a Ministry of Public Security “overseas police station” in New York City, according to the Department of Justice.
While there is no evidence any U.S. OCSCs operate police stations on behalf of the Ministry of Public Security, the DCNF previously reported that some OCSC branches in other countries have opened “Overseas Chinese Police Contact Points.”
China expert and author Gordon Chang described China’s influence and intelligence operations as “comprehensive beyond belief.”
“The Communist Party of China uses all points of contact to subvert the U.S. Almost no American organization is too small to infiltrate, and if there is no organization to take over, China’s communists create one,” Chang told the DCNF.
‘Unbreakable Bond’
Minnesota Chinese World’s August 2024 article — which was apparently deleted after the DCNF reached out for comment — details Walz’s attendance at several other events organized by members of CAAM and the St. Paul OCSC.
“Walz has formed an unbreakable bond with our Minnesota Twin Cities Overseas Chinese community,” Minnesota Chinese World writes, “he often attends our Chinese community’s public interest activities as a specially invited VIP guest.”
In addition to the 2022 fundraiser, Walz sent video greetings to events organized by the St. Paul OCSC’s propaganda chief in 2022, 2023, and 2024, the article reads. Minnesota Chinese World did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
Additionally, CAAM’s records reveal its former president also organized a June 2018 fundraiser for another local nonprofit called Global Minnesota, which Walz and St. Paul OCSC leaders, including the center’s propaganda chief, attended based on an analysis of photos from the event.
A social media post made by the Chicago Chinese Consulate shows Consul General Hong Lei delivered a speech at the June 2018 fundraiser, and another photo pictures him speaking one-on-one with then-Minnesota Rep. Walz.
The Chinese Consulate did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
‘The All-China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese’
Three months after the Global Minnesota fundraiser, Walz, St. Paul OCSC leaders and Chicago Chinese Consulate personnel met again at a University of Minnesota Chinese ballet performance in September 2018, Minnesota Chinese World’s article reports.
In the article, St. Paul OCSC’s propaganda chief claims to have organized the event. However, the performance was sponsored by the All-China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), a detail first reported by Seamus Bruner of the Government Accountability Institute.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission characterizes ACFROC as a “United Front” organization serving as a “point of contact and coordination” between Chinese living abroad and the CCP.
Photos from the September 2018 ballet performance show Walz on stage with the two St. Paul OCSC officials, a Chinese deputy consul general, former Minnesota Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen and the secretary general of Sichuan’s provincial ACFROC branch.
“U.S. Congressman Waltz commented that 30 years ago, he celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival for the first time in Foshan, Guangdong,” reads a Chicago Chinese Consulate account of the event. “As Mid-Autumn Festival stands out in Chinese culture as a special day of family reunion, it was his pleasure to enjoy this performance with everyone together.”
Walz’s speech allegedly “won warm applause” from the audience, according to Minnesota Chinese World.
Chinese-language news outlet Guancha later characterized Walz’s speech as “a textbook example of American political ethnic lobbying,” and claimed it significantly contributed to Walz’s popularity with the Chinese community. The article also claims his support in areas with larger ethnic Chinese populations contributed to his 2018 electoral success.
Natalie Winters, who recently discovered documents listing Walz as a speaker alongside a United Front affiliate at a 2019 event, told the DCNF that the UFWD is “the tip of the spear in the CCP’s robust network of foreign influence operations.”
“Whether dealing in blackmail, lucrative business deals, or free trips to China, the effort weaponizes American leaders against their own people by pushing them to advocate for policies favored by the CCP,” said Winters, co-host of the Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast.
AUTHOR
Philip Lenczycki
Daily Caller News Foundation investigative reporter, political journalist, and China watcher. Twitter: @LenczyckiPhilip
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