A Chinese company, now revealed to employ hundreds of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members, is set to build two electric vehicle battery plants in northern Michigan after scoring approval from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and President Joe Biden.
Earlier this year, Democrats in the Michigan legislature approved plans by Gotion Inc. to build a $2.3 billion battery plant near Big Rapids with millions in state taxpayer money and potentially billions in federal tax credits as well.
As part of the plans, Gotion is looking to build a number of plants and facilities in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) noted last year:
Once completed, the facility in Big Rapids is expected to produce 150,000 tons of cathode material per year, covering an area estimated to span 260 acres with plans to build two 550,000 square foot production plants along with other supporting facilities. Additionally, the project will involve the construction of two production plants specifically dedicated to producing anodes, ultimately resulting in 50,000 tons of anode material produced per year. [Emphasis added]
In June Biden’s Treasury Department approved the Gotion battery plant project outside of Big Rapids. At the beginning of this month, Gotion purchased nearly 300 acres of land in Green Charter Township where the plant will eventually sit — just 100 miles from Camp Grayling, which is the largest United States National Guard training site.
Camp Grayling in Grayling, Michigan. (John L. Russell/AP)
According to an ESG report, published by the Daily Caller, Gotion’s parent company employs hundreds of CCP members and is led by a member of the CCP, despite repeated denials from executives that the company is controlled by the party.
The Daily Caller reports:
“Gotion High-Tech founded a CCP branch in 2010 that was upgraded to a CCP committee in 2014,” reads Gotion High-Tech’s 2022 ESG Report. “The CCP committee’s subunits are two CCP general branches and 11 party branches, currently with 923 CCP members, among which over 50% hold master’s degrees or higher.” [Emphasis added]
Gotion High-Tech’s CEO, Li Zhen, is also identified as the party secretary for the firm’s CCP committee within a section of the 2022 ESG report highlighting the company’s 2022 “party building work situation.” [Emphasis added]
The revelation comes weeks after a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing, reported by Fox News, discovered that Gotion was registered as a Chinese foreign principal.
The law firm Warner Norcross & Judd handled the FARA filing on behalf of Gotion; the filing claims Gotion “is not supervised, directed, controlled or financed by any foreign government or foreign political party.”
Meanwhile, residents in northern Michigan are outraged by the prospect of a CCP-linked company buying up hundreds of acres of land and becoming a major employer in their small community.
“We’re not stupid.”⁰Residents in rural parts of America are fighting Chinese owned and Chinese affiliated factories building close to military bases.
Their grassroots fight coming up tonight in our one hour special investigation on @NewsNation at 9pmET. pic.twitter.com/7UuecbmP1N— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) June 25, 2023
Gotion’s battery plant is not the only Chinese investment worrying residents. As Breitbart News has reported, Ford Motor Company and China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) are proposing a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall, Michigan.
CATL is China’s premier electric vehicle battery supplier. CATL CEO Zeng Yuqun is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee — a high-ranking CCP advisory body that serves as a central component of the party’s “United Front” efforts.
China’s “United Front” efforts, as the federal government has detailed, are considered to be a front for CCP intelligence operations overseas.
Like the Gotion project, the Ford-CATL joint venture is getting hundreds of millions from Michigan taxpayers and is likely to win possibly billions in federal tax credits, also funded by taxpayers.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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