As the tanks rolled into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to crush the student protests on June 4, 1989, a 25-year-old American named Tim Walz was in Hong Kong, preparing to travel to mainland China for a teaching job. Many Hong Kongers were angry about the crackdown and urged him and the other foreign teachers not to go, he later recalled. But Walz went anyway.

“As the events were unfolding, several of us went in,” Walz said. “It was my belief at that time that the diplomacy was going to happen on many levels, certainly people to people, and the opportunity to be in a Chinese high school at that critical time seemed to me to be really important. It was a very interesting summer, to say the least.”

Walz’s teaching experience formed the beginning of his 35-year relationship with China and its people. If elected vice president, Walz would be the highest-level U.S. official to have lived in China since George H.W. Bush. Over that time, Walz’s views on the Chinese government evolved as the government itself came under the more totalitarian, aggressive and repressive regime of President Xi Jinping.

As Walz grew more skeptical of the Chinese leadership, he still worked to engage with the Chinese people. In Congress, he was heavily involved in issues relating to China, especially human rights. He staked out a nuanced position, often saying he is neither a “dragon slayer” nor a “panda hugger.”

Walz’s theory on the China challenge is that the United States can advocate for human rights in China while still engaging with the Chinese people and China’s economy. This should not be a controversial stance. The real question is how Walz would adapt that thinking if he entered the White House, where national security concerns often take precedence.

The attacks on Walz over his ties to China are surely just beginning. But his experience, knowledge and commitment to the U.S.-China relationship should be seen an asset, not a liability, for both his campaign and the country.

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