Chinese National Security Risks Continue with 'Intelligence Collection Devices' on Maritime Cranes
With maritime cranes collecting intelligence for China, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Cella provides more context on CCP espionage concerns.
In the most recently uncovered national security risk, Chinese-manufactured cranes contain “intelligence collection devices” at U.S. maritime ports according to a February 22nd press release by the Select Committee on the CCP. “Immense damage has already been done,” the press release states.“The evidence gathered during our joint investigation indicates that ZPMC is fully capable of exploiting and manipulating U.S. maritime equipment and technology at the direction of the CCP. ZPMC currently accounts for nearly 80 percent of the ship-to-shore cranes at U.S. maritime ports.”
The committee also uncovered that Chinese state-owned Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited (ZPMC), the “world's leading port container crane manufacturer,” installed “certain components onto U.S.-bound cranes and other maritime infrastructure that are outside of any existing contract between ZPMC and U.S. maritime ports, and which play no known role in the operation of the equipment covered by those contracts.”
Concerns about threats to national security from the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party have been increasing on several fronts. This includes multiple green energy deals by CCP-linked companies across the country that stand to receive over $100 billion in taxpayer subsidies. The threats also include the purchase of U.S. farmland near military installations by the Chinese, TikTok, and more than 42,000 Chinese nationals crossing the Southern border illegally since the beginning of 2023. Both current and former CIA directors have issued caution and indicated that China is the biggest national security threat to the United States.
Daily Mail recently reported that multi-billion dollar alternative energy plants are being funded in the Midwest by companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party. Among these, two electric vehicle battery plants have been approved in Michigan that will cost more than $2 billion each. Manteno, Illinois also has approved a similar electric vehicle (EV) battery plant, with concerns about Chinese espionage growing among locals and government officials. The Daily Mail report states that a dozen Chinese-funded projects stand to earn billions in taxpayer subsidies. Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and J.D. Pritzker of Illinois have touted the economic benefits of these projects without addressing the concerns regarding national security.
Gotion is the EV battery manufacturer behind both the Green Township, MI plant, and the Manteno, Illinois plant. The company also has a California plant that began operation of EV batteries in December, just a month after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Gavin Newsom in San Francisco.
The Manteno Township Board has downplayed Gotion’s connection to the communist party despite several red flags. Gotion’s “Articles of Association” blatantly describe an allegiance to the “Constitution of the Communist Party of China.” Chen Li, the President of Gotion Global, is a member of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. Chen Li’s father, Zhen Li, is also a high-ranking member of Gotion and occupies “a leadership position within the CCP,” according to Michigan State Senator Lana Theis. In addition, an exclusive report last fall by Daily Caller disclosed that Gotion employs a total of 923 CCP members.
In March 2023, Michigan native Joseph Cella co-founded the Michigan-China Economic and Security Review Group (MCESRG) with former U.S. Congressman and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra. Cella served as a U.S. ambassador in Fiji and other small Indo-Pacific countries during the last two years of former President Donald Trump’s administration.
In a letter of opposition against the Gotion deal, Cella wrote:
“As I began serving as an ambassador for the United States of America, I immediately faced head-on the manifestations of how the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are grave national security threats to the U.S. and our allies. They are certainly one of the gravest threats our republic has faced in its history.”
In the letter, Cella continues, “No PRC-based company escapes the reach of the CCP. In fact, in the National Intelligence Law, Articles 7, 10, 11, and 14 requires all organizations and citizens to ‘support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence efforts’ and that all ‘necessary means, tactics, and channels to carry out intelligence efforts, domestically and abroad" must be used.”’
After reaching out to Joseph Cella for comment he explained that he was inspired to act after he had an “epiphany” in the fall of 2022. He read an op-ed written by a Trump administration colleague, Alex Gray, in the Oklahoman that argued the dangers of China’s influence in the U.S. Cella was further moved to respond to the growing threat of Chinese espionage after two CCP-linked deals were attempted in North Dakota as well as Virginia.
The third largest food-processing company in China, named Fufeng, ventured to obtain over 370 acres of land, only 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base, which Cella stated during our conversation to be “very sensitive.” That deal was denied due to national security concerns. Another deal in Virginia involved a partnership between Ford and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), an international Chinese-owned battery manufacturer. Governor Youngkin called the deal a “Trojan horse” and said he would be willing to work with Ford, but not if CATL is involved.
“I look forward to bringing a great company there. It won’t be one that uses kind of a Trojan-horse relationship with the Chinese Communist Party in order to gain,” Youngkin told Bloomberg Television in an interview last January.
Shortly thereafter, Governor Whitmer of Michigan signed away taxpayer funds to a Ford and CATL manufacturing site in Marshall, MI. Whitmer said the $630 million would help bring in 2,500 manufacturing jobs to Michigan. Cella knew that he had to create the MCESRG to combat these national security risks at the state level.
During Joseph Cella's interview with Wrong Speak Publishing regarding the current status of the three large projects in Michigan with Chinese espionage concerns, he stated the Eagle Township “megasite” is dead after Township Supervisor Patti Schafer was recalled last November for doing secretive non-disclosure agreements.
Cella said the Green Charter Township, MI deal is in “peril” after the whole township board was also recalled. While Gotion began removing trees and seems to be moving forward with the project, Cella thinks that the deal is poised for failure. He elaborated by saying:
“From their genesis, they had a two-year head start. Government and business [were] collaborating [on the project]. That ruptured the consent of the governed. The supervisor of Big Rapids was recalled. Green Township had five township trustees repealed. There’s a lot of complications. No site plan, no development agreement. Very very murky state of affairs.”
After my conversation with Joseph Cella, Gotion submitted its site plan for approval. This site plan requires a soil erosion and sediment permit because it is within 500 feet of a wetland. The MCESRG responded to the news by posting on their 𝕏 account, “…the Gotion ‘deal’ cannot go forward without the approval of Green Township. And that will not happen.”
In response to the Marshall, MI manufacturing plant, Cella said during our interview, “I would not want to be Ford Motor Company and CATL right now, considering that they have three congressional committees investigating this proposed deal.”
The recent denials and challenges of Chinese manufacturing deals in Michigan are evidence that local leaders can effectively counter national security threats at the state level. That is the purpose and goal of the MCESRG.
There appears to be a correlation between blue-state governors signing off on Chinese manufacturing deals and extensive projects happening in the Midwest. Cella clarified that it is not just Democrats supporting these projects and that it is happening in many states, including Mississippi and Michigan.
Cella explained, “There were deals that were brought to Michigan from the regime of [Republican] Governor Rick Snyder and they’re problematic. We’re going to be doing some digging on that. One that is very fishy and received a ton of cash from MI and makes wheels for the big three auto manufacturers. It’s called Dicastal. [Dicastal is] totally intertwined with the CCP. That has the been the site of a fire, an explosion, and an FBI raid.”
Cella pointed to a large amount of the U.S. population, including high-ranking elected officials, as being “China-blind.” He said they do not understand the risk associated with approving farmland acquisitions and manufacturing deals with links to the CCP or Chinese nationals. “It takes nothing for a middle manager or for somebody more non-descript to just begin surveilling, whether it’s human intelligence or signal intelligence,” Cella explained.
He also specified that the approvals of these deals are likely not nefarious, but rather an attempt to improve the job market. Cella said, “Which elected official irrespective of party would not like to talk about bringing jobs, tax revenue, and infrastructure improvement to their constituency that they can talk about in their reelection? They’re human. Many have woken up and went ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did this.’”
The green energy manufacturing plants and large agricultural land purchases by Chinese nationals follow certain patterns. Cella said, “I think there are a number of commonalities to consider. I think they are near military installations or concentrations of military personnel. They’ve made inroads with sympathetic governors.”
There is a belief in society that if the United States wants to be more involved in the domestic production of green energy technology, it needs help from China. In 2022, China was behind 90% of worldwide green energy investments according to The Wall Street Journal. Cella has a different viewpoint on the matter.
Cella said, “Ford has two plants; one in Kentucky, and one in Tennessee with an allied country - South Korea - with SK industries,” Cella continued. “You don’t have to worry about national security with them. Why would Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, tell three members of Congress in a meeting last summer, ‘Oh man we are so far behind, we need China. There is no way around it. We will never catch up.’”
Joseph Cella is encouraged by the work his organization and others have done to combat national security risks but attests there are plenty more concerning projects that are being pursued around the country. One of these projects involves land nearly surrounding the Travis Air Force Base in California.
“All the data from the national security intel agencies say ‘Be aware, China is on the hunt. These are national security threats.’ What can appear to be benign business deals so oftentimes are not,” Cella said. “Another parallel with all of these deals is that people do not find out about them until two years down the road, whether it’s Mississippi, Michigan, Kansas, [or] North Carolina. China is never transparent. They don’t operate with best business practices. I would say we’re at a hinge point in our country where we’re heading into the second cold war. There is a massive information gap about the nature of the threat. Wall Street loves China and making profits and kowtows the dynamic of the elected officials. We’re on a mission pivoting to taking it national because we have proof of concept.”
Other states have been taking a stand against the purchase of U.S. agricultural land by foreign entities and introducing bills to prevent these acquisitions. The U.S. House and Senate unanimously passed a bill to require a national security review of certain agricultural purchases made by foreign investors. Joe Biden didn’t sign the bill. Congress is slated to continue pushing for a similar bill in the 2024 session.
National security threats from China continue to loom with warnings from high-ranking intelligence officials. CIA Director Bill Burns wrote an op-ed for Foreign Affairs in which he states that China is the biggest long-term threat to the United States. In the op-ed, Burns states that the CIA has doubled its Chinese intelligence budget over the last two years. Obama-era CIA director Leon Panetta recently expressed specific concerns about how the Gotion battery plant in Michigan would be used for espionage."They'll use it to be able to gain the kind of advantages that are counter, frankly, to the interests of the United States," Panetta said. "I think it is very important in those situations to make sure that the United States, and that our intelligence capabilities are being used to make sure that we know what they are doing that could hurt the United States."
Small towns in Michigan, Illinois, and other states are fighting hard to prevent Chinese manufacturing interests from taking control of large swaths of land. Senators, House Representatives, and committees are working to prevent national security risks from allowing Chinese-owned companies access to critical U.S. infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Southern border is still allowing a record number of Chinese national illegal immigrants into the United States.
Joseph Cella offered one final appeal to elected officials and citizens who seem blind to the issue of China. “You can’t be too careful,” Cella said. “They’re very wiley, they’re on the hunt, [and] they’re very intentional. They will wait people out. They will modify their deals. You just can’t be too careful. Our national security agencies are tracking it. They’re aware of it. The China threat is more gargantuan than can be understood or appreciated.”
Actually, the Democrat party is the biggest threat to America’s national security, as well as to the 332,000,000 Americans not interested in themselves or their children being assaulted, raped, murdered and mal-educated… all top priorities of the Democrats.