An executive at Chinese Communist Party-linked Gotion arranged trips to China, shuttled money to a local official, and dug through an opponent’s divorce papers while making deals for a massive battery factory in Michigan.
Gotion, an electric battery company affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, first proposed a factory in Green Charter Township, Michigan, in 2022. State and local subsidies to the Chinese company will total $715 million. Gotion aims to “break ground soon” and is suing the recently-elected township board for resisting its plans.
The Federalist obtained texts revealing Gotion’s VP of North American Manufacturing, Chuck Thelen, maintained a close relationship with Jim Chapman, then-supervisor of Green Charter Township, and apparently called opponents “ignorant racist’s [sic].” Thelen arranged trips to China and dug through the divorce papers of a resident who opposed the project, and his wife gave Chapman $1,000.
Making Inroads
Last year, Thelen offered to bring Chapman to China, and his wife gave the then-supervisor $1,000, according to text messages obtained by The Federalist.
Gotion offered to bring a “number of the community members” to China to view its plant, Chapman told The Federalist. “They offered a number of the community members around here the opportunity to go over and actually look and see what their plant looked like. I happened to be one of those people,” Chapman said. “I wasn’t interested in going, and actually nobody ever went.”
Chapman texted Thelen on Aug. 3, 2023, expressing thanks for the invitation. “Please let your chairman know I am
