Gov. Youngkin Takes On Chinese Spy Operation In His Own State

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has stood up to powerful interests thus far in his term, most notably the public school cartel that seeks to eliminate parents from the education process.

Now, he’s taking aim at China by shutting down a planned electric car battery plant he called “a front” for the communist nation’s leaders.

Here’s what the Washington Free Beacon reported:

While the plant was ostensibly owned by the Ford Motor Company, it would have been run by a Chinese company, Contemporary Amperex Technology, which also would have owned “the technology used in building the battery cells,” the Virginia Mercury reported. Youngkin said Wednesday that he’d halted plans to build the factory.

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“We welcome and encourage economic cooperation with international companies,” the governor said, but “‘Made in Virginia’ cannot be a front for the Chinese Communist Party.”

Youngkin in the 2021 gubernatorial race unexpectedly beat Democratic former governor Terry McAuliffe. If McAuliffe had won, he might not have nixed the plant: The Democrat has an almost 30-year relationship with China, notably partnering with a Chinese businessman to found an electric car company that offered visas to Chinese investors.

The news got mixed reviews on Twitter as China-loving Democrats tried to suggest the governor was anti-progress while fellow conservatives applauded his firm stance on the issue.

Gov. @GlennYoungkin does not want #Virginia to participate in @Ford's request to build a battery manufacturing plant due to #NationalSecurity concerns associated with #China.

The automaker has an ongoing agreement with a Chinese company. https://t.co/iBDnzsMC5s

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) January 14, 2023

Virginia strikes a blow against the CCP

Youngkin Quashes Construction of Green Energy Plant That Would Have Been 'a Front for China' https://t.co/m6FQ9lof1g

— Laconia17 🇺🇸🇬🇷🇬🇧🇳🇿🇮🇱🇨🇦🇦🇺🖖 (@Laconia171) January 17, 2023

https://twitter.com/JamaicanPattee/status/1615222007733575681

Glenn Youngkin's race to match Ron DeSantis anti-China crusade just cost Virginia potential advanced manufacturing jobs@VAChamber @NOVAChamber @DonScott757 @bluevirginia https://t.co/L1VTFcW0RQ

— Senator Scott Surovell (@ssurovell) January 13, 2023

With or without this factory, of course, there’s plenty of other evidence that China is doing its best to surveil Americans and gather whatever intel on the West that it can in a bid to become the world’s most powerful nation.

That’s why so many leaders across the U.S. are banning the Chinese social media app TikTok.

Vox covered the story like this:

Banning an app is more the provenance of countries like, well, China, which has banned a number of American apps and websites, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. It’s also not certain that the US government actually would take such a huge step. But you’ve surely heard that it could happen, and you’re probably wondering if and how it would — or even why it’s necessary.

Seemingly every Big Tech company is facing unprecedented levels of scrutiny these days, but TikTok faces opposition that its peers don’t. At a time when US-Chinese relations aren’t great, TikTok’s popularity is a threat to America’s technological superiority, especially when it comes to the internet. But US lawmakers are much more likely to point to the perceived threat to national security, believing that the Chinese government is using the app to spy on Americans and push harmful content onto them through the app’s powerful yet mysterious For You recommendation algorithm.

Here’s another story about Chinese espionage within the United States.