CCP ally announces another massive project near US military base
A Chinese-owned electric vehicle (EV) battery maker with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Friday joined Illinois officials in announcing a $2 billion battery plant in Kankakee County near a National Guard military base.
Gotion Inc. is owned by Chinese tech firm Gotion High-Tech, based in Hefei, China. The company pledges loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) several times throughout its Articles of Association.
Article 9, for example, states: “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.”
Gotion also set up the Gotion High-Tech Co., Ltd. Committee of the Communist Party of China which, according to Article 115 “shall perform its duties in accordance with the Constitution of the Communist Party of China.”
The company has nevertheless received approval to build a $2 billion EV battery plant in Monteno, around 15 miles from a National Guard Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) and readiness center. Opened in 2017, the facility houses over 200 soldiers, weapons simulators and ten UH-60 Blackhawks.
Gotion’s plant is expected to create 2,600 jobs while raking in $536 million in incentives and $125 million in capital funding from the State of Illinois, in addition to a 30-year tax abatement.
“We believe that Gotion's battery technology will help to boost e-mobility in North America and the economic and trade exchanges between China and the U.S.,” said Gotion High-Tech Chairman and CCP member Li Zhen in a statement.
Footage obtained by the Daily Caller in August shows Gotion High-Tech employees dressed as Red Army soldiers and pledging to “fight for communism for the rest of my life.” The footage was taken during company field trips to communist revolutionary memorials. Over 920 CCP members are reportedly employed by Gotion High-Tech.
Gotion’s announcement comes after also receiving approval in April from Michigan lawmakers to build an EV battery plant. Last month the company announced its purchase of 270 rural acres near Grand Rapids in Big Rapids Township, Michigan, about 60 miles from US military armories and within 100 miles of a US military facility.
Despite fierce pushback from residents and lawmakers, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has earmarked $175 million in taxpayer funds to subsidize the plant, which is expected to create over 2,000 jobs and earn the company hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state grants.
One Michiganian told state lawmakers in April that the plant is part of the CCP’s ambition to “overthrow the United States without firing a shot” while another said it was a threat to the American way of life.
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), who represents the district where Gotion will build the new facility, opposes the transaction.
“For our state to welcome CCP investment in Michigan 100 miles from the same facility where the Michigan National Guard has worked with military officials from Taiwan is a dangerous double standard that puts national security at risk,” Moolenaar said. “This land purchase in Green Township is a step backwards for Michigan and our communities.”
Gotion’s land purchase adds to the 384,000 acres of US land — about twice the size of New York City — already owned by the Chinese, according to a US Department of Agriculture 2021 report. This includes a recent 370-acre purchase in North Dakota by the Chinese company Fufeng Group, whose Executive Chairman Xuechun Li is considered an active CCP member and supporter. The location is just a 20-minute drive from a US Air Force base housing sensitive drone technology.
According to the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Gotion Inc. does not pose a national security threat.
