Many viewers wondered why Gov. Tim Walz was asked about being in China during the period of the Tiananmen Square massacre. And why he gave a baffling answer about being a kid from a small town.

Normally misspeaking should not be a big deal, but Walz is a serial liar who lied about his military service and the start of his political career. Unlike Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden, Walz doesn’t tell senseless random lies that are obviously false. Instead, he lies with the purpose of building up his political career.

So this might have just been a case where Walz was trying to bolster his status. But how does lying about being in Hong Kong do that?

Walz was actually on duty in the National Guard at the time he claimed to be overseas.

Questions have been raised and remain unanswered about his relationship with the Chinese government over the years. Back in August, Freedom Center Investigates dug into some of those relationships. There are many red flags there, but an obvious one is that Walz had developed a relationship with a ChiCom official who then financed his tour group.

Walz’s Chinese career began after graduating college when he took a position teaching in China where the future congressman, governor and vice presidential nominee claimed that “no matter how long I live, I will never be treated that well again.”

Together with his wife created a company that brought American students to China and which appeared to be in business for the next two decades.

Walz’s student trips to China were subsidized by the Chinese government. According to a newspaper article at the time, Walz had the idea while working in the Communist country and a “friend helped contact the authorities and funding came through from the government.”

The “friend” worked in China’s Foreign Affairs Department which is routinely used to recruit foreigners.

There’s a lot of red flags here, but a basic one is that Walz was in the National Guard and then overseas in an enemy country that appeared to be sponsoring him.

So maybe Walz misspoke, maybe he was lying to bolster his resume or maybe he was diverting attention from his activities at the time.