Allow me please to share some stories that I think are a big deal. A very, very, big deal. So big a deal in fact that I think they should permanently derail the presidential ambitions of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, question the national security bona fides of Kamala Harris, and possibly lock up the Great Lakes State for Donald Trump.
If these stories are news to you and agree they are significant, particularly if you live in Michigan, you should be asking yourself why you learned about them reading a blog authored by someone in Los Angeles, rather than the national media.
As reported by MLive, a Michigan-focused news service, five University of Michigan graduates from China have been charged in a federal countersurveillance probe at Camp Grayling, America’s largest and most critical national guard training facility located in a sparsely populated region of northern lower Michigan. An FBI complaint filed Oct. 1 charged Zhekai Xu, Renxiang Guan, Haoming Zhu, Jingzhe Tao and Yi Liang with conspiracy, making false statements to investigators, and destroying records during the federal investigation.
The 28-page complaint details how the five UM students were found at Camp Grayling with cameras near military vehicles and classified communications equipment while soldiers from national guards throughout the U.S., along with troops from allied nations, were conducting their twice-yearly Northern Strike training exercises.
The students were found at Bear Lake on the camp’s property after midnight on Aug. 13, 2023, records show. About 7,000 military officials, including some from Taiwan, were participating in live firing exercises.
China disputes Taiwan’s sovereignty, and there are concerns it might launch a military operation to annex the country. The FBI complaint noted that Taiwanese participation was made public prior to Northern Strike training exercises.
The FBI’s complaint doesn’t list ages or hometowns for the Chinese students. All graduated from the University of Michigan in May 2024 and were in a joint program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
MLive and its sister Ann Arbor News publication verified each students’ affiliation with the University of Michigan. Alarmingly, MLive was unable to determine if the alleged spies were in custody. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit ignored requests for comment and University of Michigan spokespeople directed questions about the arrests to the FBI Office in Detroit.
That alleged Chinese spies were on a surveillance mission of a major U.S. military training facility comes as no surprise. What should alarm Americans is that Michigan Governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Gretchen Whitmer spearheaded $175 million in grants and tax incentives worth $540 million so a China-based company called Gotion with known ties to that country’s communist government could build a battery plant within 90 miles of Camp Grayling.
Gotion also is eligible for federal tax credits provided under the Inflation Reduction Act, for which Kamala Harris has proudly and repeatedly noted she cast the deciding vote.
There was bipartisan agreement that China would use its battery plant near rural Big Rapids for spying purposes, although fawning Biden/Harris legacy media outlets repeatedly dismissed the concerns as being from right wing Republican conspiracy theorists. Leon Panetta, who served as CIA Director and Defense Secretary under Obama, told a Congressional hearing earlier this year that concerns raised by Michigan Republican Congressman John Moolenaar that China would use the Gotion plant for espionage purposes were indeed legitimate.
“I don’t think there’s any question that they’re going to take advantage of that situation,” Panetta said. “And I think we have to be very vigilant about what the hell is going on. That’s just the way they operate. They’ll establish a manufacturing unit, they’ll establish whatever they can, and then they will use that for their own intelligence purposes. They will use that for their own economic purposes.”
Bill Evanina, who previously served as director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told Congress last year a Chinese company with a battery factory in Michigan would “100 percent” bring spies to the United States.
“There will be an effort by the Communist Party of China to infiltrate that capability via cyber, human, and hybrid methods,” Evanina said. “Using businessmen, engineers, and what we call the non-traditional collectors, they will go over and above to implement their methods in that particular technology that’s in your district.”
The Gotion plant isn’t the only Whitmer subsidized venture with known ties to China’s communist government. Michigan’s governor also spearheaded $175 billion in grants and subsidies so Ford could build a battery plant in rural Marshall using technology the automaker is licensing from China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL). Critics of the deal, which the Wall Street Journal reported included GM CEO Mary Barra, charged that Ford was using CATL to circumvent Biden/Harris administration efforts to reduce America’s reliance on Chinese batteries and materials.
Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for an immediate Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review of Ford’s licensing deal with CATL but they ignored his pleas. CFIUS is a U.S. Treasury-led interagency panel that reviews proposed transactions to ensure they do not harm national security.
Ford’s Marshall plant, the scope of which it radically scaled back after Whiter destroyed fertile farmland and century old trees to build, is about 30 miles from the Michigan National Guard’s Fort Custer Training Center and the Kalamazoo Armory.
Notably, Ford ranked first among 250 of the largest listed U.S. companies with the biggest financial exposure to China, according to the latest index published by a consulting firm. Ford also imports its acclaimed Lincoln Nautilus SUV from China, and the company is looking to export more vehicles from that country. Although Ford claims on its website that it’s “All In On America,” the company is ranked No. 1 among U.S. corporations paying their top executives more than they pay in taxes, providing yet another validation of the Starkman Approved Theory, which holds there is an inverse relationship between companies and individuals who claim the loftiest morals and ideals and their actual behaviors.
Democrats charge that Donald Trump is a major threat to America’s democracy, but that warning likely will fall on deaf ears to the rural folks in Big Rapids and Marshall, where the Whitmer approved Chinese battery plants are under construction. Residents in both communities vigorously opposed the battery plants because of security and environmental concerns. Communities located near battery plants are advised to check the safety of their water at least twice a year.
The Detroit Free Press reported that political groups tied to Whitmer spent an estimated $100,000 in “dark money” to run a PR campaign discrediting the environmental concerns of Marshall-area residents, particularly fears that a lithium battery plant could harm their local water supply and potentially the Kalamazoo River. An environmental expert testified at hearings the concern was legitimate because the former working farmland on which Ford’s battery plant is built is so fertile that if contaminated lithium would seep faster into the groundwater.
Underscoring the ruralness of Marshall, some area residents still get their water from wells.
One might expect that Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is facing a tight Senate race and is a former CIA analyst, would be railing about the alleged spies at Camp Grayling. Instead, she is feigning concerns that China’s electric vehicles, on which the Biden/Harris administration in August imposed 100% tariffs, could potentially be used to spy on Americans.
Slotkin was responsible for a letter signed by a group of Democratic lawmakers to Mexico’s incoming president warning that Chinese-made vehicles in that country might collect data on unsuspecting buyers. Yet Slotkin has so far remained silent about GM profiting from data it collected on unsuspecting buyers, which found its way to insurance companies and resulted in higher premiums for some GM vehicle owners. The surveillance has resulted in at least a dozen class action lawsuits, as well as one filed by Texas AG Ken Paxton containing very damning allegations.
If Slotkin were genuinely concerned about Americans’ data privacy, she’d be railing about the epidemic of cyberattacks in Michigan, particularly at hospitals. A Michigan cybersecurity expert told me the IT networks at the state’s hospitals are so poorly managed that administrators often don’t even know they’ve been hacked. Michigan AG “Do Nothing” Dana Nessel hasn’t sought to impose serious penalties for privacy data violations stemming from alleged management negligence and incompetency.
Slotkin also has praised the Harris administration’s $500 million taxpayer giveaway to GM to retool a Michigan plant for EV production when it’s convenient. The freebie was in addition to the $600 million GM received to retool a plant in suburban Detroit for electric pickup production, the opening of which has been delayed multiple times. The taxpayer giveaways were despite GM’s Mary Barra spending $16 billion to buy back her under performing stock to enrich herself and other GM shareholders.
“The next generation of vehicles should be built by American companies and American workers, which is why I’m so happy to see what’s happening today in Lansing at GM’s Grand River Assembly,” said Slotkin.
GM has announced it plans to build its EV Cadillac Optiq in Mexico, where it is already that country’s biggest vehicle manufacturer. GM’s electric Equinox and Blazer also are built in Mexico. Ford has confirmed it will continue proudly building its next generation electric Mustang in Mexico.
Under Kamala Harris’ Inflation Reduction Act, GM’s and Ford’s Mexican-made EVs are eligible for lucrative subsidies when sold in the U.S. Nevertheless, UAW President Shawn Fain has endorsed Kamala Harris for president and the union is spending millions to support her candidacy.