Two more reasons to fear Gotion’s Manteno factory: kill switches and a land grab – Wirepoints

By: Mark Glennon*

Gotion is the Chinese company with a lithium battery factory in Manteno, Illinois, now making batteries for data centers. It’s subsidized by $536 million from the State of Illinois, though Gotion and its parent company have “well-documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP).” That’s according to the chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP, John Moolenaar (R-Michigan) and many other informed sources.

To the already long list of reasons to shut down this project, add these:

First, some Chinese-made electrical products have now been found to contain “kill switches,” which are backdoor, unauthorized components that would allow somebody to remotely disable or turn off the device.

Specifically, “Engineers have discovered kill switches embedded in Chinese-manufactured parts on American solar farms, raising fears Beijing could manipulate supplies or ‘physically destroy’ grids across the US, UK and Europe.” That’s according to a widely republished, recent report by Reuters.

The concern extends to batteries. “Over the past nine months undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, have also been found in batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers,” one of Reuters’ sources said.

Gotion’s Manteno project was originally hailed by Illinois officials as part of the state’s green energy policy by making batteries for electric vehicles.

However, sources in Manteno now say two lines of production are already making batteries for data centers. That’s from a Manteno village trustee speaking at a June village board meeting. In addition, local Gotion opponents sent me pictures like the one here of packaging and containers they believe confirm that the batteries are being shipped for data centers. Data centers are the large buildings containing servers that are the backbone of the internet. Disabling them or spying through them could mean crippling portions of the internet or spying through the internet.

Gotion was already the subject of bipartisan warnings about its use for Chinese espionage and other nefarious purposes. For example, Leon Panetta, who was Secretary of State and CIA Director in the Obama Administration, said this about Gotion’s U.S projects in sworn testimony before Congress:

I don’t think there’s any question that they’re going to take advantage of that situation. And I think we have to be very vigilant about what the hell is going on. That’s just the way they operate. They’ll establish a manufacturing unit, they’ll establish whatever they can, and then they will use that for their own intelligence purposes. They will use that for their own economic purposes. They’ll use it to be able to gain the kind of advantages that they want that are counter, frankly, to the interests of the United States.

Moreover, the U.S. Defense Department was banned from using Gotion batteries in any military equipment under legislation signed by President Biden. And Congress just recently stripped Gotion of eligibility for federal tax credits.

It’s anything but farfetched to think that Gotion might be inserting sinister components in its products. In fact, you can almost assume they will do so, according to one expert I spoke with.

That’s Michael Lucci, CEO, and Chairman of State Armor, which he created to develop and enact state solutions to global security threats.

“There is a distinction between green tech and ‘red tech,’ Lucci told me, “which is technology that is covered by China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law. From a security perspective, you have to assume Chinese connected technologies contain backdoors for two reasons. First, China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law requires all their companies to turn over data and access to Beijing upon request, and then to lie to Americans about it when asked.”

Second, Lucci said, “U.S. cybersecurity experts have found such ubiquitous backdoors across almost every piece of Chinese connected technology that matters, including port cranes, drones, routers, healthcare monitors, surveillance cameras, radio transponders, phone applications, EVs, and more recently — batteries and solar inverters.”

The second new development is that Gotion opponents in Manteno have published what they say shows a “land grab” in the area of the factory by Gotion, its supporters and related parties. Of particular significance is their claim of a plan by Gotion convert 390 acres of “prime farmland” to build a solar farm. Gotion has already purchased the land, according to Gotion opponents.

That farmland purchase should be suspect in light of last week’s announcement of an exceptionally tough federal ban on Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday announced a department initiative to block “foreign countries of concern,” such as China, from owning U.S. agriculture lands. The administration will “take swift legislative and executive action to ban the purchase of American farmland by Chinese nationals and other foreign adversaries,” she said.

Rollins said officials will even try to revoke lands already owned by China-backed entities. That could mean the Gotion purchase of the farmland might be reversed. Let’s hope so.

It’s also significant that Gotion’s Manteno plant is adjacent to one of America’s busiest rail lines, which have been of special concern to national security officials.

In 2023, the U.S. State Department warned that China was capable of launching cyber attacks against critical infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines and rail systems, after researchers discovered a Chinese hacking group had been spying on such networks. Gotion’s factory and ancillary yard are astride of one of just seven “Class 1” freight rail lines in America, which are the biggest and busiest in the U.S. The same line is also an Amtrak passenger route from Chicago southward. While Gotion has a solid business reason to be near a major freight line, the fact remains that Chinese land ownership near major rail lines is among the alarm bells national security officials are sounding.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.

Wirepoints has covered the Gotion project closely since it was first announced and we regard it as a travesty. Our earlier stories on it are collected here.

This column was updated to add the material on rail lines, delete an unrelated image and correct the description of the Amtrak line going through Manteno.