Part 3: China Threat: Gotion. The Power of One.
- Pure Integrity Michigan Elections
- Jun 20
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 25
By Patrice Johnson, Chair and Founder, Michigan Fair Elections Institute
June 20, 2025. Revised June 21, 2025
Part 3 examines how one individual, Lori Brock, launched a movement to stop a CCP-linked battery company from building an electric vehicle battery plant adjacent to her farm. This article shows the Power of One in the land of the free and home of the brave. It reveals how America's exceptional system of government, founded on a justice system designed to protect individual rights and fair elections, empowers an individual to effect change.
Parts 1 and 2 exposed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) calculated efforts to exploit Michigan’s strategic assets. This month alone, FBI agents arrested three Chinese nationals for trying to smuggle biological pathogens and materials into University of Michigan laboratories. Less than a week later, Director Kash Patel declassified a memorandum revealing a 2020 CCP plot to produce fraudulent driver’s licenses, enabling illegal mail-in ballots for presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Part 2 of this series explored Konnech’s 2022 data breach of election administrators' personally identifiable information (PII). It also explored the Department of Defense's contract with Konnech to help process overseas absentee voting through the Uniformed and Overseas Civilian Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). The DoD canceled the contract in 2019 after at least one year of operation, exposing electoral vulnerabilities.
Gotion’s Entry into Michigan
The story begins like a Grimm's fairy tale with a damsel in distress under the approach of the looming shadow of Gotion, the all-powerful antagonist.
Unbeknownst to Brock, Michigan’s Democratic-led government offered a $715 million incentive package, including $125 million in grants and $540 million in tax breaks to a Chinese battery manufacturer with plans to build a $2.4 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in quiet Green Charter Township, situated in rural Mecosta County near Big Rapids, Michigan. Crain's, Oct. 6, 2022
Gotion Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, claimed the plant would bolster domestic EV production under the Inflation Reduction Act.
But Gotion’s CCP ties provoked concern. Headquartered in Hefei, China, Gotion High-Tech is led by CCP member Li Zhen. Its articles of incorporation mandate CCP loyalty, and its board includes Anhui Provincial People’s Congress members, a CCP-controlled body. Federal filings confirm Gotion High-Tech wholly owns Gotion Inc., receives Chinese subsidies, and employs 923 CCP members who pledge party loyalty Moolenaar.house.gov, March 29, 2025 and Federal Newswire, October 2023.
The company has continuously misled the public about its close ties to the CCP and refused to heed election results, instead deciding to sue a small town that does not want it.
– Congressman John Moolenaar, March 29, 2025
The Power of One: Lori Brock’s Resistance
When the Detroit News revealed the Gotion project in September 2022, horse farm owner Brock learned of the proposed site’s proximity to her farm, the company's tax breaks, and its environmental risks to wetlands.
She challenged claims of community support and led a door-to-door survey with hundreds of residents. Her findings? More than 88% opposed the plant.
Brock’s advocacy culminated in a 2023 recall election, ousting five Green Charter Township board members, including Supervisor Jim Chapman, who backed Gotion. Ballotpedia
On May 7, 2025, Brock testified before the Michigan House Oversight Subcommittee on Corporate Subsidies and State Investments. She denounced Gotion’s “underhanded” approach and questioned its choice of a rural, recreational area over industrial zones in Flint, Detroit or elsewhere.
Brock called the project a “huge mistake” and criticized Chapman’s refusal to survey residents. She urged state reimbursement for the township’s legal fees from Gotion’s lawsuits. Brock also planned a 2023 rally at her farm and scheduled Vivek Ramaswamy to amplify the arguments against the Gotion plant.
The Gotion project not only threatens our environment, but the company’s direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party are a national security threat to our very freedoms,
– Lori Brock, October 4, 2023
Brock’s efforts highlight how one person’s resolve can spark grassroots resistance, influence elections, and elevate local concerns to state and federal levels, aligning with PIME’s mission to restore election integrity to Michigan through community organizing.
Moolenaar’s Leadership and Security Risks
U.S. Congressman John Moolenaar (R-District 2) soon became a champion of terminating Gotion’s contract due to “the company's ties to the CCP.” Moolenaar now serves as chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Years of legal battles ensued. Then on March 28, 2025, the publication, Pioneer, announced a halt to the Gotion plant. The project was put on hold.
Moolenaar welcomed Gotion’s pause in seeking permits but demanded its complete withdrawal, noting Mecosta County’s 2023 recall election. Moolenaar.house.gov, March 29, 2025
Moolenaar criticized Gotion’s lawsuits against Green Charter Township as defying community will, consistent with Brock’s testimony.
The residents of Mecosta County have made it clear multiple times. They do not support Gotion operating in their community.
– Congressman John Moolenaar, March 29, 2025
Moolenaar’s NO GOTION Act (Congress.gov, June 20, 2025) proposes to bar companies affiliated with hostile nations—China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—from green energy tax credits. A 2024 Select Committee investigation found Gotion’s supply chain uses forced Uyghur labor, raising ethical concerns. Real Clear Politics March 21, 2024.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviewed the project due to its proximity to Camp Grayling, 100 miles away, and raised espionage fears. Detroit Free Press, Nov. 1, 2024
X posts, like Tudor Dixon’s, noted Gotion was partnering with a university tied to cyberattacks and the Chinese military. @TudorDixon, Dec. 4, 2024
Economic and Environmental Threats
Governor Gretchen Whitmer touted Gotion’s 2,350 jobs and $1.4 billion impact. Michigan.gov, October 5, 2022 Meanwhile, critics, including Moolenaar and Brock, warned that 300–500 Chinese engineers were likely to displace locals, diverting opportunities. The $715 million in taxpayer incentives prioritized foreign firms over citizen education and infrastructure, Moolenaar said.
Gotion’s reliance on Chinese equipment risked technology transfer to the CCP, threatening the nation’s industrial sovereignty, according to The Daily Caller, Sept. 27, 2023.
A Coordinated CCP Strategy
American Greatness articles indicate that projects like Gotion serve as examples of the CCP's strategy to exploit economic dependencies and conduct “unrestricted warfare.” American Greatness, May 22, 2022.
The bioweapons arrests, Konnech’s breaches, the 2020 fake driver’s license plot, and the Gotion maneuver suggest a CCP strategy to target Michigan’s agriculture, industry, universities—and our elections. Add in Michigan’s swing-state status, waterways, location as a border state, and military installations, and the state is a geopolitical target.
On top of these matters, the FBI estimates the CCP accounts for $225 to $600 billion in annual trade secret theft, further eroding America's intellectual property rights and the intellectual strength of the nation (FBI.gov).
These long-term asymetrical attacks, combined with recent arrests of Chinese students for smuggling biological pathogens and materials into University of Michigan’s laboratories, suggest an escalating threat (Parts 1 and 2).
Lessons Learned
Brock’s grassroots efforts, alongside Moolenaar’s leadership, show that individuals and policymakers--fortified with this nation's legal focus on protecting individual rights--possess the power to push back against threats and defend Michigan’s sovereignty in the federation of states.
The bioweapons smuggling, Konnech’s vulnerabilities, and Gotion’s CCP ties serve as reminders of the need for stronger voter verification, more secure election systems, and rigorous foreign investment scrutiny.
Lori Brock’s resolve is an illustration of one person igniting change through peaceful legal processes. She surveyed residents, led elected-official recalls, and testified before elected representatives.
Federal and state officials have their powers too. They can expand CFIUS reviews, enforce environmental protections, subpoena witnesses, and prioritize their constituents...or lose their seats.
Michigan, a geopolitical linchpin like Ukraine, faces CCP adversaries, so American control of Michigan’s agricultural lands, waterways, and industrial base are an essential component of the nation's security.
By supporting Moolenaar’s NO GOTION Act, emulating Brock’s activism, and addressing Parts 1–2 vulnerabilities, Michigan may reclaim its role as a bastion of constitutional republicanism.
Stay tuned for Part 4 on Monday, which will synthesize these threats into PIME-recommended solutions.
Artificial Intelligence was used in the creation of this article.
Patrice Johnson is founder and chairperson of Pure Integrity Michigan Elections (PIME). Patrice has founded five successful technology companies and served as senior executive with a Fortune 50 technology company. In 2017, she authored the book, the Fall and Rise of Tyler Johnson, the basis of the nationally circulated PBS documentary film, Finding Tyler. Questions or comments? Contact patricejohnson2023@proton.me.
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