By Jake Smith, DCNF. Residents of a small country town in Michigan have rejected the planned construction of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-tied
Residents of a small country town in Michigan have rejected the planned construction of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-tied “gigafactory” in their community, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Gotion Inc., a subsidiary of the Chinese parent company, Gotion High-Tech Power Energy Co., plans to build a $2.4 billion electric vehicle(EV) battery factory spanning hundreds of acres in Green Charter Township, Michigan, which is largely made up of rural farmland, according to the NYT.
Residents have opposed elected local leader’s decision to allow Gotion into their community, as the parent company is led by a CCP member and employs hundreds more.
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“It’s the Communist influences that I’m bothered by, because they have shown repeatedly that they don’t care about our rules, our laws or anything,” Lori Brock, a resident living near the planned site of the factory, told the NYT. “They shouldn’t be able to buy here.”
Gotion High-Tech plans to build multiple factories throughout the U.S. in addition to the factories they have already established in California and Ohio. Fears of CCP influence spreading through regions where Gotion High-Tech plans to build has been brushed off by the company, who denies its ties to the CCP, and democratically elected leaders who have green lit their construction.
Despite its denial, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported that Gotion High-Energy’s CEO has worked directly with the CCP and employs 923 party members. Further questions were raised after it was reported that Gotion High-Tech’s “Articles of Association state that: “The Company shall 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.”
The DCNF previously reviewed footage of multiple Gotion High-Tech field trips to communist revolutionary memorials in China, in which employees can be seen wearing matching Red Army uniforms and pledging an oath to the CCP.
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Republican lawmakers have criticized elected leaders like Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, for allowing Gotion to build in their states. Republican Presidential candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley have been equally critical; Haley called Whitmer “a comrade” for backing the factory, and Ramaswamy plans to hold a campaign rally at Brock’s Township horse farm in protest.
Hundreds of residents have cast blame on the Green Charter Township board of trustees, a group of local officials who voted to allow tax breaks for Gotion as it preps to build its factory.
“I will go to my grave and people will curse me for this project,” Jim Chapman, the Green Charter Township supervisor, said to the NYT. “What are they going to spy on us for in Big Rapids?”
Critics plan to oust Chapman in a November recall election, and residents have raised money to file lawsuits and stonewall permits Gotion will need for construction, according to the NYT. A “No Gotion” group has been started on Facebook with over 1,000 members.
“We haven’t even started,” Brock said. “We haven’t even hit them with one lawsuit yet, and it’s coming.”
Gotion did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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