The Chinese owners of a company developing a $2.4 billion taxpayer-subsidized electric vehicle battery facility in Michigan are making employees pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party and wear Red Army uniforms, reports suggest.
Gotian High-Tech, the Chinese parent company of Gotion Inc, took staff on several corporate retreats to CCP revolutionary memorials in Anhui province, China, in 2021. reported the Daily Caller.
During the journeys, the workers wore Red Army outfits and vowed to “fight for communism until the end of my life,” according to images posted on the Chinese battery manufacturer’s website.
It comes amid rising concerns about Chinese investment in US industries and rising fears that communist spies are infiltrating top corporations and educational institutions.
Gotion Inc, the California-based company “wholly owned and controlled” by Gotion High-Tech, according to a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing.
The planned factory will occupy a piece of land just outside the Big Rapids area and will cost $2.4 billion to make.
The US-based company plans to “invest $2.4 billion to build two 50,000-square-foot production plants” for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in Big Rapids, Michigan. That reports Fox News.
During a two-day trip to Anhui province in July 2021, 50 workers donned matching Red Army uniforms and hiked six miles through mountainous terrain, the Daily Caller reported.
On a field trip the next day, Gotion High-Tech visited the Revolutionary Memorial Hall in Huoshan County, where employees took the CCP’s oath, the paper said.
“I volunteer to join the CCP, uphold the party’s platform, abide by the provisions of the party’s statutes, carry out the duties of a member, carry out the party’s decisions strictly observe the discipline of the party, be loyal to the party, work hard, to fight for communism as long as I live, be ready at all times to sacrifice everything for the party and the people , and never betray the party,” the workers chanted in unearthed images.
A month later, a second trip took place in which the company took employees to Mount Dabie in Anhui province in tribute to the CCP’s Long March, the Daily Caller reported.
During the second trip, the employees learned the songs of the Red Army and wore the appropriate uniforms.
Michigan residents have spoken out against the construction of the planned EV factory.
There has been unrest in Green Charter Township, near where Gotian has bought a piece of land in the Big Rapids area for the planned factory.
Community members in Green Charter, the small community where the factory will be located, are expressing concerns about its connection to China.
The planned plant would be built on the outskirts of Big Rapids, just a few miles from one of the state’s National Guard bases.
Gotion Inc. – based in the US but with ties to Beijing through its Beijing-based parent company – has released a statement claiming it will continue to hear statements from the Green Township community as they attempt to establish the plant, which will create around 2,000 jobs
Rural Michigan residents speak out against construction of a planned EV factory linked to the Chinese Communist Party — which is now proceeding despite concerns about its proximity to a US military base
Days after the FBI said they didn’t have the proper jurisdiction to review the plant’s narrowing, local lawmakers also got involved, urging officials like the governor and senate to halt construction on the plant. to avoid a possible crisis.
“We’re not stupid,” Green Charter resident Ormand Hook tells NewsNation in a clip airing Sunday that outlines the event — the latest example of Chinese companies buying acres of U.S. land, often minutes away from military installations.
“We’re here, but we’re not stupid,” the farmer added, flanked by members of his family.
When asked if he thought his city would be targeted by the planned EV factory because of its remote nature and rustic residents, Hook emphatically replied, “Yes.”
In another clip, Corrie Riebow, also someone who lived in the small, somewhat suburban town an hour from Grand Rapids just off Route 131, was asked, “Why here?”
She replied, “I don’t know; but someone has to benefit from it. It won’t be us,’ she added, ‘but someone will.’
Others have raised similar grievances in recent weeks, with many pointing out how close the battery factory will be to the Michigan Army National Guard base in Big Rapids, just a few minutes south.