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Electric Vehicle company with Chinese ties awarded $500 million of taxpayer money for 2nd U.S. plant

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With a little help from their Democrat friends, a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party just announced the opening of its second plant in the United States.

Fox News reports Gotion Inc., whose parent company Gotion High-Tech is based in Hefei, China, unveiled plans to build a $2 billion lithium battery plant in Manteno, Illinois, alongside Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who cheered the project.

The announcement comes amid growing opposition to the company’s plans to build a billion-dollar factory in Mecosta County, Michigan.

In order to make the expansion happen, lobbyists for the Chinese Communist Party-tied electric vehicle company funneled cash to Democrats. “Individuals at a law firm registered as foreign agents to lobby on behalf of Gotion, a Chinese electric vehicle battery company developing a controversial project in Michigan, and wired campaign contributions to several top Democrats” reports Fox News.

“According to state and federal filings, Monique Field-Foster, an attorney at the Lansing office of the Warner Norcross + Judd law firm who is acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Gotion, donated to the campaigns of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Whitmer’s sister Liz Gereghty and Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Rep. Elissa Slotkin” the Fox News report continued.

“In partnership with the business community and the General Assembly, two years ago we set out to make Illinois a destination for electric vehicle and clean energy companies from across the globe,” Pritzker said in a statement.

“With the right incentives, nation-leading infrastructure, world-class workforce and booming clean energy production, we have transformed ourselves into an attractive location for global manufacturers. Today, we take another leap forward. It’s my pleasure to welcome Gotion to Illinois and to show the world yet again that Illinois is ready to be a player on the world stage.”

Pritzker delivered remarks late last week thanking Gotion for choosing Illinois to call “home” in a ceremony with leaders from Gotion High-Tech, including Li Zhen, the company’s chairman and president, who said he expected the factory to open in less than 12 months.

“All that we see here [in Illinois] are of enormous value to us: an enabling business environment, a supportive state government for the new energy industry and their highly efficient work, as well as the prospects of the State of Illinois in the coming years,” the Gotion president added. “We believe that Gotion’s battery technology will help to boost e-mobility in North America and the economic and trade exchanges between China and the U.S.”

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China

China Spying on Uyghur Muslims Living in Turkey

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According to a new report by the NGO Safeguard Defenders, China has created an elaborate police network to spy on and intimidate Uyghur Muslims living in Turkey. This report follows other recent bombshell publications by the NGO detailing China’s Iron Curtain-esque policies preventing millions of its own citizens from leaving its borders, its international ring of covert police stations, and its network of psychiatric institutions that it uses to suppress dissent. Safeguard Defenders compiled the new report from 93 surveys and 17 interviews of Uyghurs living in Turkey. Below are some of its key findings.

How the CCP Organized Its Surveillance Regime

The elaborate spy network involves police stations and family members in Uyghur cities in China, as well as Uyghur informants in Turkey. Local police in China collect information on the Uyghurs living in Turkey from their families in China. The police then set up files on the Uyghurs living in Turkey, often with the help of Uyghur informants there. Chinese local police then work with the Chinese embassy in Ankara and the Chinese consulate in Istanbul to obtain more information on their targets. China then engages the target via direct contact, through the Chinese embassy in Ankara or the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, or via family.

Coercion for the Sake of the CCP

Chinese police use coercive tactics on Uyghurs living in Turkey to further the CCP. The CCP leverages Uyghurs’ “financial difficulties,” concerns about passport renewals, and family ties in China to get Uyghurs in Turkey to spy on fellow Uyghurs, to refrain from speaking out against China’s persecution of Uyghurs, and to participate in Chinese propaganda.

The CCP’s Pressure on Family

China’s tactic of choice is engaging the target via family. The CCP has significant emotional leverage with this approach, given that most of the Uyghurs in Turkey surveyed (75 out of 93) claimed they had up until that point lost contact with their families for at least several years. Chinese police re-establish family ties to collect information on what the Uyghurs in Turkey are saying to their family, and to also use the family to convey threatening messages such as “Do not post anything about the government” and “Don’t circulate lies about our country, don’t participate in illegal activities.” All 17 of the Uyghurs interviewed stated that they Chinese authorities threatened to harm their families in China if they did not comply. Six of the 17 stated that the CCP offered to reunite them with their families if they did comply.

The CCP’s Political and Other Pressure

Out of the 17 Uyghurs in Turkey interviewed, eight admitted to being pressured by the CCP to engage in pro-CCP propaganda, including attending pro-CCP events at the Chinese consulate or embassy, or writing pro-CCP articles in Turkish newspapers. Twelve of the 17 interviewees admitted to being pressured to cease criticizing the CCP, often with the threat of harm being done to their family in China if they did not comply. Twelve of the 17 interviewees also admitted to facing pressure from the CCP to inform on fellow Uyghurs in Turkey. Five of the 17 stated the CCP offered them financial incentives if they cooperated.

Safeguard Defenders has once again illustrated the extent to which the CCP persecutes its own citizens, and that the CCP’s long arm of power to do so extends far beyond China’s borders.

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