Michigan awarded a $175 million grant to an energy company — owned and controlled by a China-based battery manufacturer with ties to the Chinese Communist Party — to build a massive battery manufacturing facility near a U.S. military base in Michigan, according to the Daily Caller.
The Daily Caller found Gotion, Inc of California, will be given $175 million of Michigan taxpayer funds to build a 550,000 square foot facility that has been touted by state officials like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as a “global hub of mobility and electrification.”
Gotion, Inc is owned and controlled by Hefei Gotion High-Tech Power Energy Co., Ltd, a Chinese company that has previously tried to build factories near a Michigan U.S. National Guard facility called Camp Grayling. While these past projects failed, this time around, they received approval.
Gotion’s CEO, Li Chen, is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a part of the Chinese Communist Party that works to advance China’s overseas influence campaigns, according to the Daily Caller.
The new facility will be built a mere 90 miles from Camp Grayling, a large U.S. National Guard facility that hosts “live-fire combat training exercises”, according to its website.
Governments should give priority to America- based and owned companies. There are plenty of American battery manufacturers that could have been awarded this grant instead. Moreover, the government should be especially leery of giving tax dollars to adversarial countries like China, who’s attempts at espionage on American soil are well documented.
This project is at best a wasteful transfer of American tax dollars to a Chinese owned entity, and at worst a substantial threat to American national security.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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