Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz had a love affair with the daughter of a Chinese Communist Party official during his teaching stint in China that was so stormy that it almost led her to the brink of suicide. Jenna Wang, 59, claims Walz showered her with gifts and seduced her at his staff quarters at No. 1 High School in Foshan, Guangdong Province.
Wang told the New York Post that she fell deeply in love with Walz when he was a young English teacher in Foshan. Wang expected their 1989 romance to end in a marriage proposal, but instead, it ended in a breakup that left her contemplating suicide.
Walz's Secret Affair
Wang told the outlet that the couple had to avoid holding hands or showing any affection in public, as her father was a high-ranking official in the Chinese Communist Party who would have disowned her for being involved with a Westerner.
Still, their relationship blossomed behind closed doors, where they shared tea, made love, and listened to George Michael songs, which inspired the then-24-year-old Wang to envision a marriage and a new life in the United States.
However, no proposal came from the now-Minnesota governor. Instead, Wang says, being left feeling "like a prostitute" filled her with shame, anger, and eventually thoughts of suicide.
"I was deeply insulted, hurt and I had to leave that place, because many people knew that we had a relationship," Wang said, adding that Walz had suggested that he planned to marry her.
Wang shared that after returning to the United States the following summer, Walz continued to send her letters and even requested a passport-sized photo of her to be sent to him in Denver, suggesting he was helping her with a visa process.
"His lack of character, as a man, a responsible person who had worked in education or [the] military," she added. "I thought he also loved me. I loved him."
The Daily Mail first reported on the allegations by wang, who revealed that she left China for Italy just a few years after her ill-fated relationship with Walz.
In an open letter aimed at warning American voters about Walz, Wang described how, at first, the two were "like husband and wife," sharing tea and holding hands in private, away from her father, Bin Hui, a labor union leader in her hometown of Guilin.
Affair Exposed Ahead of Election
Walz, now 60, arrived in China through the nonprofit organization WorldTeach, where he met Wang, who was teaching at a nearby middle school. The young couple spent time together singing karaoke, and Walz gave Wang gifts like gold jewelry and high-waisted blue jeans.
However, in her open letter, Wang describes Walz as eventually becoming "the type of man a mother warns her daughter not to get involved."
"While, it is true, you had not promised marriage before you had arrived back in China, marriage was what I had assumed," she wrote. "Too, marriage was what you had led me to believe—as well as led others to believe, including that female colleague of yours with whom we had tea."
Wang recalled a disagreement where Walz questioned whether she truly loved him or was only interested in getting a visa. She said the accusation "shocked" her, as she had been prepared to leave her entire life in China behind to join him in his home state of Nebraska.
"I was giving it up to be with Tim, to get married and start a family," Wang told the Daily Mail.
"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."
Walz and Wang never saw each other again, though he did return to China in 1993 to lead an annual summer program connecting high school students from Nebraska and Minnesota with Chinese institutions.
After returning to the US, the future governor of Minnesota married Gwen Whipple the next year. They chose June 4 as their wedding date, the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, so that "he'd always remember the date," Gwen later recalled.
"Tim lied about Tiananmen Square and he's lied about other things," Wang told the Daily Mail.
"This is a very crucial moment in history and a man like this does not appear to have the character and integrity to do one of the most important jobs in the world."
