Michigan Announces $715 Million Contract With Chinese Communist Party-Affiliated Company

A Michigan government board approved on Wednesday $715 million in grants and a tax exemption for a battery manufacturer with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Gotion is headed up by Zhen Li, a member of the Chinese Communist Party who served three terms on a party committee. The Michigan Strategic Fund Board's grant will reportedly save Gotion, Inc., $540 million over a 30-year period. The Michigan state legislature approved $1 billion in new spending on Sept. 28, $846 million of which goes to the fund that Gotion will be paid out of. "We are thrilled to congratulate the Gotion team on choosing Michigan as their American home for opportunity! Team Michigan continues to out-hustle and out-compete to ensure every global company considering their future expansion opportunities can see their future here in our state, just like Gotion does," Quentin L. Messer, Jr., chairman of the MSF Board, said in a statement. Li is the second-largest shareholder of Gotion, behind only Volkswagen, according to Electrive, and is the "De facto controller" of the company. Chinese investors control 352,140 acres of American farmland, roughly one percent of all foreign investment.