BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – It looks like Green Charter Township in Mecosta County will be getting a multi-billion dollar megasite – whether they want it or not. The federal review of the Chinese-linked Gotion battery plant, called a CFIUS report, showed that Gotion Inc’s purchase of Mecosta county land didn’t fall under their jurisdiction.
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CFIUS is the U.S. Dept. of Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and they are charged with determining national security risks from foreign investments. Their website defines their group is an “interagency committee authorized to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States and certain real estate transactions by foreign persons, in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States.
Chuck Thelen, vice president of Gotion Inc. North American Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Chinese company Gotion High-Tech, said, “We voluntarily submitted all the needed documents to the U.S. Department of Treasury Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to be transparent and accountable and received the response that it is not a covered transaction.”
Michigan Republican U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar calls the CFIUS review a “big disappointment.” He also said in a recent statement, “Gotion Inc. put out a statement claiming it has been transparent even though it has not released the documents it turned in for CFIUS review and has not released the non-disclosure agreements it made Michigan officials sign. The company also said the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had decided the company’s effort to buy Michigan farmland for a massive battery component factory was not in its jurisdiction.”
He continued, “Gotion has not disclosed the materials it submitted to CFIUS and has not released the NDAs it forced Michigan officials to sign. While it insists on secrecy, one document everyone has seen is Gotion High Tech’s articles of association where it pledges allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party and says it will carry out party activities. Today’s announcement from Gotion is not an approval from CFIUS, but another example of the broken CFIUS process where the government claims deals are outside its jurisdiction. Last year, CFIUS said it had no jurisdiction to block a CCP-affiliated company from buying farmland less than 15 miles from an Air Force base in North Dakota. The military and the local community had to stop the deal because CFIUS failed to protect our nation’s security.”
Former Ambassador Pete Hoekstra who has also been opposed to the Gotion plant because of security concerns said to Michigan News Source about the decision, “CFIUS decision not to evaluate is disappointing. We will continue to pursue every option to stop this ill advised project. Forcing Michigan taxpayers to support a Chinese Communist Party business investment is a dangerous precedent.”
Although the Green Charter Township board had unanimously approved the project back in December, many of the residents haven’t been happy about it from the start, citing transparency and environmental issues as well as worries over China’s involvement in the project. At the township’s public meeting on Tuesday, community members continued to complain about the project. One community member said, “It makes me sick that every time you stand up and pledge allegiance to that beautiful flag, your allegiance is to China.”
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Gotion reportedly plans to break ground on the project in August.
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