China and electric vehicles forge a growing political target for Republicans
- US President Joe Biden’s goal of building a self-reliant domestic EV industry, with the help of Chinese battery technology, draws fire from opponents
- Attacks startle local officials, who wonder why efforts to bring new business and jobs to their towns are now criticised
A chorus of boos greeted Timothy Nugent, the mayor of Manteno, Illinois, at a village board meeting last week, as he explained his decision to let a China-based firm build an electric vehicle battery plant.
He said that the proposed US$2 billion facility by Gotion High-Tech Co would not only create 2,600 “good paying jobs” – a huge opportunity for the village of 9,000 and the surrounding region – but also “significantly help bolster” the supply chain for the EV sector as the US transitions from gas-powered engines to lithium-ion batteries.
The mayor also rejected demonising the company, calling it troubling that “polarised politics” and “baseless assertions and accusations” had “hijacked the education, science and medicine and economic innovation and resilience in our nation”.
“There is no evidence that Gotion has engaged in espionage or posed any national security threat to the United States,” Nugent declared.
Many residents weren’t buying it. One told Nugent that the plant was part of an effort “by the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate using business and engineers to spy on our capabilities and discover our weaknesses”.
Another accused the mayor of “exposing every one of us to the contamination of our soil and water and you’re threatening the overall health of the entire community”.