Two senior officials who have served in the American government are calling out Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her lobbying of – and kowtowing to – companies with deep links to the Chinese Communists.
In a statement posted at The Gateway Pundit, they wrote, “In our service as ambassadors, we immediately faced how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are grave national security threats to our allies and the U.S. Troublingly, in our home state of Michigan, we are seeing first-hand how the PRC and the CCP are penetrating our shores on a subnational level, beyond the eyes of the U.S. government, with the strong and active support of both Democrats and Republicans.”
The concerns come from U.S. Ambassador Joseph Cella and U.S. Ambassador, and former congressman, Peter Hoekstra.
They explained, “One year ago, the Senate Intelligence Committee hosted officials from the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), an entity within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to advise and warn a bi-partisan group of state and local officials about the nature, risks, and escalation of PRC and CCP influence operations.
“Last summer, in a first-ever joint appearance, FBI Director Christopher Wray and his MI5 British counterpart Ken McCallum delivered a warning about the grave national security threat to the West from China. Not long after their meeting, the unclassified bulletin from the NCSC was released, warning state and local leaders to guard themselves against PRC operations and refuse to sign agreements that run counter to U.S. national security and economic security, even if they appear to benefit a state or local government in the short term. They further recommended insisting on public and transparent terms for all such agreements and share such engagements with other local leaders and U.S. authorities.”
However, Whitmer and her Economic Development Corporation did the opposite, they reported, “leading Republican and Democrat state legislators, county economic development corporations, and local governments in the pursuit of CATL and Gotion, two PRC-based lithium-ion battery manufacturers who maintain deep ties to the CCP, incentivizing them with over $4 billion in tax dollars from the citizens and business owners of Michigan.”
That, they wrote, is “unconscionable and both a harbinger and a cautionary tale for the other 49 states in the Union.”
The two wrote that Michigan not only is “welcoming” the Communist influence, but “they are inducing these companies to come to Michigan with lucrative financial incentives!”
They warned, “Whitmer and her supportive cohorts have paid more attention to binding five-year non-disclosure agreements and secretive code words for the projects. Worse yet, they have turned a blind eye to any national security threat from these PRC-based companies, rushing the process, and sweetening the deal with separate pork barrel projects for legislators, rather than conducting strict scrutiny and due diligence by petitioning for a voluntary review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) through the Department of Treasury.”
They asked the obvious question, “Do Michigan taxpayers really want to send money to a country that violates human rights, performs human organ harvesting, embeds people in our universities to copy and send home research, or who steals our technology, manipulates their currency, and spies on our military installations?”
They noted that a new Trafalgar Group poll revealed half of Americans believe China is America’s most serious threat.
via wnd
