Written by by Dewey Sim at scmp.com
A nationwide poll conducted by CBS News, which hosted the debate in New York, gave Vance a slight edge as 42 per cent of those questioned said the Ohio senator had won compared with 41 per cent for Walz and 17 per cent calling it a tie.
The debate, their only head-to-head in this year’s election, largely focused on domestic issues such as gun control, immigration and the economy, but China and the Middle East were among the foreign policy issues debated.
Walz, the Minnesota governor who once worked as a teacher in China and later organised trips to the country for high school children, said he had “learned a lot” during his time there and his experience was “about trying to understand the world”.
“I would make the case that Donald Trump should have come on one of those trips with us. I guarantee you he wouldn’t be praising Xi Jinping about Covid, and I guarantee you he wouldn’t start a trade war that he ends up losing.”
Walz’s links to China have come under close scrutiny since Kamala Harris named him as her running mate.
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability launched an investigation into Walz in August, targeting what Republicans see as a crucial vulnerability.
Hours before the debate, James Comer, the Republican chairman of the committee, said the panel had received whistle-blower information about “serious concern among Department of Homeland Security personnel regarding a long-standing connection between” Walz and China.
Walz has previously said that he had been to China “dozens of times” but this week the campaign has clarified that the actual number is “close to 15”.
He also previously stated that he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, a claim that was pressed on during the 90-minute debate. He admitted that he “misspoke on this” and clarified he had arrived in the city later in the year.
Vance praised the White House for keeping Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from China, first imposed in 2018 over concerns about trade deficits and market access restrictions, but said Harris had “run away from Joe Biden’s record”.
Biden has largely maintained the tariffs, and has since raised duties on Chinese electric vehicle imports to 100 per cent.
“Think about this. If you’re trying to employ slave labourers in China at US$3 a day, you’re going to do that and undercut the wages of American workers unless our country stands up for itself,” Vance said.