AMAC Exclusive – By Neil Banerji
As many Republican-led states move to restrict companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from setting up shop in their states, Michigan Democrats are moving in the opposite direction and welcoming CCP-linked firms.
The most recent major development came last month as Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion Inc., a subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech Co., based in Hefei, China, announced that it had secured final approval to move forward on a $2.4 billion manufacturing plant in Mecosta County, about an hour north of Grand Rapids. To bring in the investment, the Michigan State Senate Appropriations Committee voted to allocate $175 million for the project, with at least $650 million more expected in the coming years.
Notably, a number of Democrats on the committee broke with their own party and joined Republicans in voting against the project, citing concerns about Gotion’s links to the CCP. Critics have pointed specifically to a section in the charter of Gotion’s parent company which stipulates Gotion and all its subsidiaries must “set up a Party organization and carry out Party activities in accordance with the Constitution of the Communist Party of China… the Company shall ensure necessary conditions for carrying out Party activities.”
Nonetheless, most Michigan Democrats have supported the factory as a job creator, dismissing national security concerns. Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer in particular has enthusiastically embraced the project, saying she is “proud” to partner with the company and touting it as “the biggest ever economic development project in northern Michigan.”
Republicans and Michigan residents, meanwhile, have been less enthusiastic. Tudor Dixon, the Republican nominee who fell short in her bid to unseat Whitmer last year, tweeted, “Michigan is handing $715M taxpayer dollars to Gotion, a company with clearly documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Why are we allowing the enemy to own land and set up shop in the center of the country? Why won’t Gotion leaders denounce the CCP?”
Some Michiganders have expressed concerns over a lack of transparency and public input on the factory. According to one Michigan political news outlet, Lori Brock, a local farm owner who organized a protest against the plan, said, “I feel like we’re being harassed… “They are trying to shut me up. They’re trying to scare me and I’m not going to put up with it.”
During one of the few public hearings about the Gotion project, Marjorie Steele, a Michigan resident who lives near where the factory will be built, said, “I’m angry that you, our elected officials, have ignored my community’s pleas to table this vote until some small semblance of due diligence can be performed.”
Notably, the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) – which is led by the Secretary of the Treasury, composed of top Biden administration officials, and charged with determining the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. companies or operations – held that the deal was “not in its jurisdiction.” The decision raised some eyebrows among observers, particularly after another case earlier this year where CFIUS ruled that a Chinese entity buying up farmland just 15 miles outside an Air Force base in North Dakota was also outside its jurisdiction.
The Gotion plant is just the most recent Beijing-linked company to set up shop in Michigan. In February, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) announced that it would be building a $3.5 billion plant in the Mitten State as part of a joint project with Ford.
Initially, Virginia looked like the frontrunner for the CATL project. But in January, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin removed his state from the running, citing concerns about ties between CATL executives and top CCP officials.
As the New York Times reported in 2021, CATL has received “lavish subsidies, a captive market of buyers, and soft regulatory treatment” from the Chinese government. Zeng Yugun, the company’s CEO, is a member of at least one industry group led by the Chinese Politburo. Some whistleblowers have even linked the company to forced labor operations as a part of China’s persecution of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang Province.
A few weeks after pulling out of the running for the battery plant, Youngkin and Virginia Republicans also passed a bill banning foreign adversaries like China and Iran from buying farmland in the Old Dominion.
Republicans in other states have adopted an approach similar to Youngkin’s, often with significant pushback from Democrats. In 2023 alone, at least eight Republican-led states have passed some variation of a ban on Chinese companies purchasing farmland, while other states are looking at legislative action to track all Chinese business activity more closely.
However, without a united effort against the CCP’s attempts to use its control over Chinese businesses to potentially undermine U.S. national security and economic interests, red state efforts may prove inadequate.
Neil Banerji is a proud Las Vegas resident and former student at the University of Oxford. In his spare time, he enjoys reading Winston Churchill and Edmund Burke.
I NEVER thought I would ever see the day when here in America WE WOULD SEE THE DAY when we WOULD ALLOW ANY FOREIGN COUNTRY TO OWN LAND AND/OR SET UP BUSINESS in ANY AMERICAN STATE! I’m just glad my mom isn’t alive today to see this happening! My mother’s family ESCAPED COMMUNIST RUSSIA losing everything to do so to come to America to be FREE! I am so ashamed that our Jackass Politicians ALLOWED this to happen!
Well China knows how to leverage points of weakness in its adversaries, so it should not be surprising that Chinese companies and institutions either directly owned or under the influence of the CCP have found a “safe haven” in which to operate freely in a state like Michigan. Any state in the United States, that is under complete control by the Democrats, which today is a party dominated by socialists and communists in positions of power, is a natural fit for the CCP to exploit. Other Democrat run states are similarly open to hosting CCP controlled companies and institutions within their borders. After all, modern Democrat politicians and members of the CCP essentially agree on the vast majority of the Marxist ideology espoused by the CCP.
As to the obvious conflict concerning national security concerns and having Chinese companies and institutions openly espousing support for the CCP and its ideology, the Democrats have been what can be charitably described as soft on anything to do with national security and national defense for decades. Rather than peace through strength as a means of deterrence, the Democrat Party has been largely a party of appeasement when dealing with serious foreign threats. So, it would be foolish to expect a unified national stance from all 50 states on the matter of allowing CCP owned or controlled entities from operating freely within our borders.
If the American people truly want a united stance in the matter, that would take removing the Democrat Party from power within the United States. Frankly, I don’t see that happening in any realistic timeframe. The Democrat Party has the political power it has because there are enough ignorant and foolish people who buy into the thinly veiled socialist nonsense they are selling.
Check Whitmers bank account to further understand.
That state is a Trojan horse
They are Finally admitting Michigan my home is a Communist State. I knew this in 1991 thats why I moved.. The Demonrats Destroyed Detroit, and Flint Mi. took them 60 years to Bankrupt the city and Poisoned Flint Michigan. It has always been a Demonrat controlled State even when John Jelly Roll Engler was governor he was a Rino just as George Romeny Mi governor Rino and his idiot son Mittens Romeny Rino, Conyers, Levin, all had doings with the Communist Party .. Michigan the Great Lakes Communist Party
Governor half-whit is a prototype marxist democrat who follows the destruction policies they epouse exactly.
She is a marxist puppet concerned only with licking the boots of the party hierarchy.
She’s fleecing Michigan, filling her pockets and selling out to the communist chinese government just like joebama and every Democrat!
whitmer is a self serving political hack hoping to ascend to power in the party.
She’s party and herself first, not the Citizens of Michigan or America!
She is as corrupt and dishonest as they come.
Traitors like her needs to be removed!
How much is Gretchen being paid – 10% off the top, like Joe?? China, nor any other foreign country or entity, should be allowed to purchase any property in the United States – period! Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin got it right, no dealing with the Chinese or anyone who is in business with them!!! These politicians who are already in with the ‘New World Order’ scenario (Gretchen) and are ready to team up with the highest bidder without any concern for the rest of us!!
Note MI & NY & Canada go Full Commie
Michigan Citizens should have a say on this issue….I’d vote NO for sure. Maybe we should check the bank accounts of everyone involved in this shady deal.
What is the jurisdiction of CFIUS then?
Trojan horse anyone?
The only bright side of this issue is that Michigan has term limits and this is her second term. The irony is that she is heavily supported by the UAW, whose leadership panders to demmorats. They are currently in negotiations for a new four year agreement and the loss of current and future jobs to EV’s is well known to all autoworkers. Big Gretch was well trained by her predecessor, Jennifer Granholm. This state is f*****d up from demmorats.
This is why whitmer was installed.
No surprise since Gretchen signed law on making it a felony for not using Communist pronouns (for gays) with intent to commit harm. NO BS.
Would expect nothing less from a Communist Governor who bows down to Communist China like Yellen, and Dictator Beijing biden who have violated Oath of Office and the U.S. Constitution.
There is an old Arab saying: “LET A CAMEL GET HIS NOSE IN YOUR TENT & THE REST OF HIS BODY WILL FOLLOW”. Quit selling USA a piece at a time!
Where is our State Department on this is not agreeing to abide by another country’s constitution akin to seceding?
Dear Lt. Beale and the world: I call “her” the WICKED WITCH OF THE NORTH! Carol
Home owners and land owners near this proposed plant have been screaming for months but our communistic leaning Governor has smiled and done what she wanted anyway. How can the rest of us do anything? The CCP is building a base in Cuba!!! 90 miles from the U.S. JFK would have had that hut down in a minute; brandon doesn’t know it’s even going in. Nor does he seem to care.
For those who refuse to understand and accept what is right in front of them, here is a little dose of reality: the Democrat Party, never any friend to this nation or its citizens, long ago morphed into The New Communist Party of the USA.