Residents of a small, rural Michigan town are celebrating after they managed to stop a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-backed company from purchasing farmland in their community.
Gotion, a Chinese electronic vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer, failed in its efforts to purchase two large parcels of land zoned for agriculture use in Green Charter Township earlier in August after the local community protested the deal, the Daily Mail reported.
Though the outcry from concerned citizens prevented the CCP-backed company from purchasing those two parcels, Gotion was able to buy up 260 acres of “derelict industrial land” and another 10 acres of disused farmland — a deal local residents have vowed to stop.
“We don’t want that factory in our community no matter what,” 58-year-old Lori Brock, a local resident and realtor, told the outlet. “We want an American company. Not one that is backed by the CCP.”
From nondisclosure agreements that hide details from the public to the obvious national security concerns in our country’s competition with the Chinese Communist Party, this project is wrong for Michigan.
— Rep. John Moolenaar (@RepMoolenaar) August 8, 2023
Brock’s concerns highlight those others have expressed as Chinese ownership of American farmlands reached a staggering 384,000 acres, more than half of which are in Texas, the Daily Mail reported.
“We’re almost at war with China right now. Why are we allowing them to buy land here and we can’t buy land in China? It doesn’t make sense,” Brock continued, adding that the community would be fighting the plan “tooth and nail.” (RELATED: GOP Reps Push Bill To Ban China From Buying US Farmland)
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer dismissed concerns over Gotion’s purchase, calling the planned factory “the biggest ever economic development project in Northern Michigan,” per The Detroit News.
Other prominent Michigan Democrats also support the deal, including state Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Sarah Anthony, who said the plan would benefit “all Michiganders.”
“If you have actually been into this area, it’s one of the poorest communities in the state,” Anthony told The Detroit News. “So I think that it is a point of privilege for individuals to say that good paying jobs … for a very rural, very low-income area should not be considered with due diligence.”
Michigan Republican Rep. John Moolenaar pointed out the proposed factory would be a mere 100 miles from Camp Grayling, a Michigan National Guard training camp where military personnel from Taiwan have come to train for a possible Chinese attack. “Yet, Michigan’s state government leaders are siding with CCP-affiliated companies,” Moolenaar said, according to the outlet.
Chuck Thelen, Gotion’s vice president of North American operations, has rejected what he dubbed “continued prejudice-fueled propaganda” against the company.
“Gotion Inc. and the Green Charter Township Board have fulfilled every state and federal check that Mr. Moolenaar has required, and when presented with positive outcomes, that should be celebrated for the region and its citizens, we continue to see political scare tactics from the congressman that are designed to mislead constituents instead of empowering the people that he was elected to represent,” Thelen stated, according to the Daily Mail.