BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Amidst a divided public regarding the ongoing development of the Gotion Electric Vehicle Battery plant in Big Rapids, Michigan, Vice President of North American Operations, Chuck Thelen, is hosting online town halls to talk about the project.
The first took place on April 8 and addressed concerns from the public regarding the China-linked EV battery project.
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“A virtual town hall meeting is a convenient, easily accessible, way people can get their questions answered about the facility and learn more about the ongoing progress of our project,” said Thelen. “I’m looking forward to talking with people. The meetings also will be an effective way to reduce misinformation that continues to be spread about the facility.”
Thelen’s Town Hall Comments Cause Stir Regarding Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
According to former United States Ambassador Joseph Cella, Thelen likened the CCP to other political parties “like Republican or Democrat.”
“For Chuck Thelen to support the brutal and genocidal CCP by equating it to the Republican and Democrat parties is appalling and outrageous,” Cella said in a statement.
Cella, also the co-founder of the Michigan China Economic and Security Review Group, called the online forum an attempt to humanize the people behind the project.
“Monday’s forum was an attempt to “humanize” the people behind this project and the regime the company it is intertwined with, but it failed spectacularly, and made worse with this horrific statement by Thelen, who has no clue the totalitarian CCP is responsible for the deaths of over 100,000,000 million people due to starvation, persecution, prison labour, and mass executions,” Cella said in a statement.
The former ambassador, alongside the leader of the Michigan China Economic and Security Review Group and Michigan Republican Party Chair, Pete Hoekstra, demanded that Thelen retract his statement.
“We call on Chuck Thelen to retract his statement, condemn the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party, and apologize to all of the living victims of Communism, and the families of all who perished,” the pair said in a statement.
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