The subsidized U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese electric vehicle battery maker quietly acknowledged on July 20 that it had received subsidies from the Chinese government after executives suggested the U.S. subsidiary had no government involvement.
Gochon is completelyOwned and controlledThe China-based parent company, Goshon Hi-Tech, made the disclosure under the revised Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Filing “We are pleased to announce that China has made a number of strategic investments in the Chinese market,” said Chuck Thelen, Gotion's vice president of North American manufacturing. Politico In August 2023, it said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had no presence in its American subsidiaries, and in June told concerned locals that the CCP was “just a political party, like the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.”
The amended FARA filing states that “Kokuten is subsidized in part with financial assistance from the Government of the People's Republic of China.”
The company plans to build the facility in Green Charter Township, Michigan, less than 100 miles from Camp Grayling, the National Guard base that houses Taiwanese troops. Trained — and Manteno, Illinois, generous state and federal aid. Local voters in Green Charter Township voted in November 2023 to remove five of the seven officials who approved the deal with Gotion, with the remaining two having resigned before the election. (Related article: “We refuse to be bullied”: Local authorities block Chinese company's battery factory construction plan)
Gochon – FARA Amendment by Nick Pope
“It is not surprising that the Chinese Communist Party is aiding and abetting Goshon, but it is inexcusable that Goshon has consistently misled people about his ties to the Chinese Communist Party. American tax dollars should not be used to elevate China's national leadership,” Michigan Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the House Select Committee on China Communist Party and who represents the area where Goshon plans to build, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We hope that these latest allegations will spark a new investigation to permanently block Goshon's Michigan plans.”
Moolenaar Introduced In November 2023, the Treasury Department also passed the NO GOTION Act, which specifically restricts Chinese Communist Party-linked companies from cashing in subsidies included in President Joe Biden's signature climate change legislation, the Control Inflation Act. was suggested The move would give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) more authority to review certain real estate transactions within 100 miles of U.S. military installations, which could clearly affect Gochon.
DCNF has extensively reported on Guoxuan's ties to China and the Chinese Communist Party through Guoxuan High-Tech Technology, which, as of 2022, employs more than 900 Chinese Communist Party members, as reported in August 2023.
According to the DCNF investigation, a traveling group of CCP officials set up so-called recruiting “workstations” at Gochon’s California headquarters in 2017, and senior executives were filmed attending at least two meetings of Gochon Hi-Tech’s internal CCP committee in 2022. Additionally, video footage uncovered by the DCNF shows Gochon Hi-Tech employees dressed as Red Army soldiers and pledging allegiance to the CCP during a company trip.
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta testified before Congress in January that the Chinese Communist Party is likely using Guozhan Gao Technology's planned facilities “to obtain whatever benefits they desire that are, frankly, contrary to the interests of the United States.” Additionally, a group of five Republican lawmakers called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to effectively ban Guozhan Gao Technology from shipping goods to the United States, citing possible violations of the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act through its ties to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a paramilitary organization on the U.S. blacklist. DCNF reported on the matter in October 2023.
“Since its inception, Guozhan, which is based in the People's Republic of China and has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has worked swiftly and secretly with government and business elites on this 'deal,' which bears all the hallmarks of a Chinese foreign influence operation or regional aggression, and has been riddled with misinformation and disinformation in its nature,” former U.S. ambassador Joseph Cella, who now runs the Michigan China Economic and Security Review Group, told DCNF. “This 'deal' remains a threat to our national security as Guozhan and its backers continue to defy national security and intelligence agency directives to be vigilant and conduct due diligence to ensure transparency, honesty and accountability.”
Guoxuan and Guoxuan High-Tech did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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