Troops from US allies, including Taiwan, have been training at Michigan’s Camp Grayling, a former US diplomat told US lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Joseph Cella, a former US ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu, made the remarks during a US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The US government had not previously confirmed the presence of Taiwanese troops at the US National Guard base.
Photo: Screen grab from a video on the committee’s Web site
Cella, the director of the Michigan China Economic Security and Review Group, said a proposed factory by Chinese lithium-ion battery maker Gotion High Tech Co would be about 113km from Camp Grayling and would pose a threat to the secure US military installation.
“Camp Grayling is the hub of the National All-Domain Warfighting Center, which trains our troops and those of our allies, including Taiwan, in strategic and tactical battle operations,” he said.
The facility is the largest National Guard training facility in the US, the Michigan National Guard Web site says.
During a congressional hearing last year, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner was asked if he agreed that any location, including Camp Grayling, that are training Taiwanese troops should be considered a sensitive site.
Ratner at the time did not confirm that Taiwanese soldiers were at the site, saying that he preferred to discuss topics of military engagement with Taiwan in a classified setting.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Cella discussed the threat the proposed plant posed.
“I witnessed malign influence through a subnational incursion and influence operation by a PRC [People’s Republic of China]-based and CCP-tied lithium-ion battery manufacturer, Gotion, in rural Green Charter Township, Michigan” he said, referring to alleged attempts of bribery and corruption to secure approval of the plant.
“US national security and intelligence agencies convened a group of bipartisan state and local elected officials, and business executives across the country to warn them of China’s political warfare,” he said. “Despite these warnings, all supporting the Gotion project brazenly defied them... And that’s just one of many examples across the United States of how China threatens our national security and sovereignty.”
The factory has become a hot-button political topic in Michigan in the run-up to the US presidential election in early November.
Republicans have spoken out against the plant, while Democrats have been more supportive of it.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS