Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-FL) says “no federal funds” should go to enrich companies linked
to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), requesting a federal review of a
deal between Ford and China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL)
to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall, Michigan.
As Breitbart
News reported, Ford and CATL are
planning a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall — a deal
celebrated by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). CATL is China’s premier
electric vehicle battery supplier and enjoys immense support from subsidies
overseen by the CCP.
As part of the deal, Ford is
hoping to score federal subsidies through President Joe Biden’s Inflation
Reduction Act for batteries produced at the Marshall plant despite CATL’s
involvement.
Rubio, in a letter to Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen,
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm,
writes that he is “alarmed” by the Ford and CATL deal, urging the
administration to open a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the
United States.
“I write to
request a Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. review of the licensing
agreement, as well as demand that no federal funds … go to enrich PRC national
champion CATL, or any other Beijing-supported company, directly or indirectly,”
Rubio writes:
As you are
aware, the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) has not hidden its ambitious goals when it comes to
developing and weaponizing its industrial capacity. In
2015, Beijing published its Made in China 2025 plan, which specifically
identified electric vehicles (EV) as a target industry to dominate within the
decade. In particular, the
CCP has worked to fund and develop EV battery technologies, taking steps to ban
foreign-made batteries from the market and striving to monopolize critical
input processes, such as phosphoric acid production, in their
industrial sector. [Emphasis added]
As you are
also aware, even nominally private
Chinese companies enjoy rich state support from Beijing, as well as important
controls on their ownership. These firms are also obliged by numerous CCP
policies and laws to support the regime’s objectives. CATL is
no exception. As described in a 2021 New York Times report,
“Chinese government officials made sure CATL’s business stayed in Chinese
hands. They created a captive market of battery customers. And when CATL needed
money, they doled it out.” As a result, CATL today is the world’s largest EV battery producer,
guaranteeing powerful ties with automakers anxious to respond to incentives
from federal governments around the world toward shifting
away from internal-combustion engines. [Emphasis added]
…
The exact
structure of this arrangement has yet to be reported, but policymakers should
be clear-eyed about one takeaway: if
Chinese companies like CATL are able to exploit both Chinese and United States
incentives for battery and EV technology through clever
corporate arrangements, then
there is no use in investing federal funds toward industrial development in the
first place. Taxpayer dollars should never be used to support
PRC champions. [Emphasis added]
This week,
Breitbart News reported details of CATL
CEO Zeng Yuqun ties to the CCP. Yuqun is a member of the Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee — a
high-ranking CCP advisory body that serves as a central component of the
party’s “United Front” efforts.
China’s
“United Front” efforts, as the federal government has noted, are considered to be a
front for CCP intelligence operations overseas.
“The United
Front strategy uses a range of methods to influence overseas Chinese
communities, foreign governments, and other actors to take actions or adopt
positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies,” a federal
commission report from 2018 details.
John
Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.
Ford investing
$3.5B to build EV battery plant with Chinese partner
https://nypost.com/2023/02/13/ford-investing-3-5b-in-michigan-battery-plant-in-ev-bet/
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