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.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS