{"id":2188566,"date":"2024-02-29T02:01:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T07:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-to-give-850-million-to-a-chinese-owned-battery-company\/"},"modified":"2024-02-29T02:06:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T07:06:10","slug":"biden-to-give-850-million-to-a-chinese-owned-battery-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-to-give-850-million-to-a-chinese-owned-battery-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden grants $850M to Chinese battery firm"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-to-give-850-million-to-a-chinese-owned-battery-company%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2188566&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Last summer, the Biden administration announced an $850\u2064 million conditional loan\u2062 to a \u2063company called\u200c KORE Power to\u2063 build a battery production plant in Arizona.<\/h2>\n<p>The purpose\u200b was to decrease the United States\u2019 reliance on China\u2019s batteries, but KORE Power has enlisted its co-owner, a Chinese battery maker, to help\u2062 build the taxpayer-funded facility, according to court filings.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200d Biden administration touted the \u2064project as a \u2064way to &#8220;strengthen the domestic battery\u2062 supply chain&#8221; and combat China\u2019s grip on \u200bthe global market. KORE, with its Idaho headquarters and small staff\u200b of around 150 employees, seemed to\u2063 have \u200dthe \u2062perfect all-American background for the job.<\/p>\n<p>But that backstory conflicts with court \u2063documents and corporate disclosure filings, obtained by the\u200b <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>, which outline the company\u2019s extensive roots\u2063 in China.<\/p>\n<h3>Chinese Ownership and Involvement<\/h3>\n<p>The records reveal that KORE is 14 percent co-owned by Do-Fluoride New Materials\u200d (DFD), a Chinese battery manufacturer \u2062led by Chinese Communist Party official Li Shijiang. One of KORE\u2019s directors is Li Shijiang\u2019s daughter, Li Lingyun, who also\u2063 serves \u2064as vice chair of \u200dDFD and as vice president of\u200d China\u2019s state-supervised Patent\u2062 Protection Association.<\/p>\n<p>The KORE loan is the latest example of how the Biden administration&#8217;s green energy funding is benefiting China due to the\u2064 country&#8217;s \u2063dominance in the global market. Last year, the Department of Energy was forced to cancel a $200 million grant to the battery maker Microvast, after the \u200b <em>Free Beacon<\/em> reported \u200cthat the\u2063 company operated primarily from China.<\/p>\n<p>In a court filing in \u2063November, KORE disclosed\u2063 that DFD New Energy, a China-based subsidiary of Do-Fluoride New \u2064Materials, will help it build the Arizona battery plant.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The facility is under construction at present and DFD New \u200bEnergy will assist in the buildout,&#8221; said \u2064KORE\u2019s CEO \u2062Lindsay Gorrill.<\/p>\n<p>The Department \u2063of Energy confirmed to the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that \u2063DFD\u2064 will\u2062 help KORE build the Arizona facility by\u2063 providing intellectual property,\u200b research and development, and engineering capabilities. The \u200bdepartment said it conducted &#8220;extensive due diligence&#8221; \u200cof the arrangement, adding that \u200bKORE has been working to reduce its Chinese ownership, with the goal of eventually becoming completely independent of Chinese technology.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The partnership with DFD provides\u2062 KORE with access\u200c to proven \u200cIP and an experienced team\u2014experience that does not currently exist at that\u200d scale in the United States, but\u2064 through this partnership will\u200b be transferred to\u200b American workers\u2063 and to an American company,&#8221; said \u200dthe Department of Energy.<\/p>\n<p>Some links between KORE and DFD\u2064 have previously been reported. In June, the Department of Energy\u2019s loan director, Jigar Shah, said \u2064the Idaho \u2062company would rely on &#8220;technology\u200c from\u200c a Chinese company, DFD, to manufacture battery cells in Arizona.&#8221; Shah\u2019s comments were reported by the <em>Daily Caller<\/em>, which also noted \u2062DFD\u2019s \u200cconnections to the Chinese Communist \u200dParty.<\/p>\n<p>In October, the inspector \u2062general\u2063 for the Department of Energy told Congress that KORE\u2019s \u2062use of technology from DFD &#8220;clearly does not support the legislation\u2019s goals of U.S. technology\u200d development \u2062since this project deploys Chinese intellectual property.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But the extent of the relationship between the two companies\u2014including DFD\u2019s ownership stake in KORE and its involvement in building the Arizona\u200c plant\u2014has not previously been reported.<\/p>\n<p>The news\u2064 is likely to add \u2064to concerns from \u200blawmakers\u200c and watchdogs that the \u200dloan could benefit China.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For a\u2064 program that was supposed to decrease\u200b America\u2019s reliance on China, this is incredibly counterproductive. It\u2019s\u2063 outrageous that a company partly owned \u2063by a Chinese company \u200dwith\u2064 ties to the CCP would\u200d be rewarded\u2064 with taxpayer money,&#8221; said Caitlin\u2062 Sutherland,\u2064 executive \u200ddirector of the watchdog group\u200d Americans for Public Trust, in a statement to the \u200b <em>Free Beacon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>KORE and DFD did not respond to \u2062requests \u2064for \u200dcomment.<\/p>\n<h3>Legal Dispute and Chinese Connections<\/h3>\n<p>KORE\u2019s \u200crelationship\u2063 with \u2062the Chinese battery maker\u2063 is \u2064at the center\u2063 of a \u200dlegal dispute in Idaho. Over a decade ago, Chenco Engineering, a German company,\u200c reportedly won a $10 million\u200c judgment against DFD\u2063 for technology theft\u200c in the\u200b United Kingdom, which \u200bthe Chinese company has allegedly failed to pay. In September, Chenco Engineering asked an Idaho court to garnish any \u200bpayments between KORE and DFD in order to collect the money.<\/p>\n<p>A lawyer for Chenco \u2064Engineering declined to comment,\u2064 saying she was &#8220;not at\u2063 liberty to discuss this currently pending litigation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In court filings, KORE said its business\u2064 is completely dependent \u200cupon batteries that \u2062it purchases from DFD New Energy. Chinese financial records show that KORE has \u2064paid DFD at least $70 million\u200c over the\u2064 past four years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;KORE relies 100 \u2064percent on DFD New Energy\u200b battery and module production as product \u2062for\u200c its\u200b worldwide business,&#8221; said KORE in a court \u200cfiling. &#8220;Any material interference to this business relationship would\u200d be devastating to KORE\u2019s growing business.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>DFD has a 14 percent ownership stake in KORE, according to a copy\u200c of the Chinese battery-maker\u2019s 2022 financial\u2063 disclosure report reviewed \u2063by the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>. DFD also lists KORE as\u2062 one \u2064of its legally &#8220;related&#8221; business\u2064 entities in its corporate disclosure reports.<\/p>\n<p>KORE was \u200dfirst incorporated in Nevada\u200d in 2018 \u2063under the\u2063 name &#8220;Li Batteries Inc.&#8221;\u200d In a court \u200bfiling, the company\u2019s CEO \u200bdenied that the original\u200b name was a reference \u2062to the\u2063 Li family and said it\u200d came from the abbreviation for &#8220;lithium.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But KORE\u2019s \u2064close links to the Li family, who are \u200cwell-connected in elite Chinese political circles, could draw scrutiny on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Sobolik, a \u2064China expert at the American Foreign\u200b Policy Council, said the loan &#8220;suggests a serious lack of oversight by the Biden\u2063 administration.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The administration appears to be providing U.S. taxpayer funding to a\u200d company with \u200blinks to \u200dtwo Chinese entities: an international competitor and a quasi-government organization that has represented PRC business interests at the expense of American interests,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Li Shijiang, the owner of DFD, has served as a deputy\u2064 to the National \u200bPeople\u2019s Congress and\u200b received government awards for his military and business service. A veteran of the\u200b People\u2019s \u200dLiberation Army, Li said he seeks \u2063to \u200crecruit many of his employees from the military \u200branks.<\/p>\n<p>His daughter, Li Lingyun, is a director at KORE and vice chair of DFD.\u200b She also serves as vice president of \u2063China\u2019s Patent Protection Association, a nonprofit industry group that helps implement national intellectual\u200d property strategy and\u200d is overseen by \u2064China\u2019s State Intellectual Property Office.<\/p>\n<p>According to the association\u2019s bylaws, its purpose is to take &#8220;Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as\u2062 the guiding ideology&#8221; on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/destroy-our-economy-republican-treasurer-cuts-ties-to-company-over-china-coal-strategies\/\" title=\"\u2018Destroy Our Economy\u2019: Republican Treasurer Cuts Ties To Company Over China, Coal Strategies\">intellectual property issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sobolik said China&#8217;s Patent Protection Association \u200d&#8221;has repeatedly sought to weaken the U.S. government&#8217;s protection \u2062of U.S. intellectual property. It advocated\u2064 against 301 tariffs in 2018 and argued \u200bin favor of watered-down IP policies in 2022.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>KORE ramped up its lobbying of the Department of Energy during the loan application process. \u200dThe company hired Washington, D.C., lobbyist \u200cTaite McDonald, a longtime friend of \u200cthe head of the DOE\u2019s loan office, Shah. The \u200dcompany also sponsored an October conference \u200cco-hosted by \u200cthe DOE loan office and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnbc-google-and-amazon-bankrolled-a-small-business-astroturf-group-to-lobby-against-big-tech-oversight\/\" title=\"CNBC: Google and Amazon Bankrolled a 'Small Business' Astroturf Group to Lobby Against Big Tech Oversight\">trade group called<\/a> the\u2064 Cleantech Leaders Roundtable, an organization\u2064 that was founded by Shah before he joined\u2064 the Biden\u200c administration.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How \u2064does the partnership between\u2063 KORE Power and\u200b Do-Fluoride New Materials (DFD) contradict\u2064 the\u2063 Biden administration&#8217;s \u2064goal of reducing \u200dreliance on \u2064Chinese batteries?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Last summer,\u2062 the\u200d Biden administration made\u2064 headlines when it announced an $850 million \u200dconditional loan\u2064 to a company called KORE Power to build a battery production\u2062 plant in Arizona. The purpose of this loan was to decrease\u2064 the United States&#8217; \u200dreliance on China&#8217;s\u200d batteries and \u200cstrengthen the domestic battery \u2063supply chain. However, recent court filings have revealed \u200dthat\u2062 KORE Power has \u2062enlisted \u2062the help of a\u200c Chinese battery maker, which contradicts\u2063 its all-American image.<\/p>\n<p>According to records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, KORE Power is 14\u200d percent\u2062 co-owned by Do-Fluoride New Materials (DFD), a \u2062Chinese battery manufacturer led by Chinese Communist\u200c Party official Li Shijiang. Li Shijiang&#8217;s\u200c daughter, Li Lingyun,\u200c is also a director of\u2063 KORE Power and\u2062 holds positions \u200cin \u200cboth DFD and China&#8217;s state-supervised \u200cPatent Protection Association. These\u200b connections raise\u2064 concerns about the extent of Chinese\u2064 ownership and\u200d involvement in KORE Power.<\/p>\n<p>This \u2063is not \u200dthe\u200b first instance where the\u200b Biden\u2064 administration&#8217;s \u200bgreen energy funding has benefited China. Last year,\u200c the Department of Energy had to \u2062cancel a $200\u200c million grant to \u200dthe \u200cbattery maker Microvast after it\u200c was revealed that the company operated primarily from China. The \u2062partnership between\u200c KORE Power and DFD\u2062 New Energy, a China-based subsidiary of DFD, raises similar concerns.<\/p>\n<p>In court filings, KORE Power disclosed that\u200d DFD New Energy will assist in the construction \u2063of the Arizona battery plant. The\u200c Department of Energy confirmed that DFD will provide intellectual \u200dproperty, research and development, and\u2064 engineering \u200bcapabilities to KORE Power. The department\u200c claims to\u200b have conducted &#8220;extensive due diligence&#8221; on the arrangement, stating that KORE\u200c Power\u2064 is\u200b working towards reducing\u200b its Chinese\u200c ownership in the long run.<\/p>\n<p>However, the relationship between KORE Power and DFD, including DFD&#8217;s ownership \u2064stake in KORE Power\u200b and its involvement \u2064in\u200c building the Arizona plant, has\u200c not \u200bbeen previously reported.\u200b This news is likely \u2064to add\u2063 to concerns from lawmakers \u200band watchdogs that the loan could ultimately benefit China.<\/p>\n<p>Caitlin Sutherland, executive director\u200d of the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, criticized the loan, stating that it\u2064 is counterproductive to\u200c decrease America&#8217;s reliance\u2062 on China. She called it outrageous that a company partly owned by a\u2062 Chinese company with ties\u2064 to \u2063the Chinese Communist Party would receive taxpayer \u2062money.<\/p>\n<p>The legal dispute between KORE \u2062Power and\u2063 DFD \u200cis also \u200bworth\u200c noting. Chenco Engineering, a German company, \u2063reportedly won a $10 million\u200d judgment against \u200bDFD for technology theft in the United Kingdom over a decade ago. Chenco Engineering has asked an \u200bIdaho court to garnish any payments between KORE Power\u200d and DFD\u200c to collect the \u2064money. KORE Power has stated that \u2062its\u2062 business is completely dependent on\u200c batteries purchased from DFD New Energy.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese\u200d financial records show that \u200cKORE\u200c Power has paid DFD \u2064at least $70 million over the past four years. \u2062DFD has a 14 percent ownership stake in KORE Power, according to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-asia-czars-holdings-may-present-conflict-of-interest\/\" title=\"Biden Asia Czar\u2019s Holdings May Present Conflict of Interest\">financial disclosure report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In \u200dconclusion, the \u2063revelations \u2064about KORE Power&#8217;s Chinese ownership and involvement raise \u2063concerns about \u2062the Biden administration&#8217;s loan to \u200bthe company. It contradicts the administration&#8217;s\u200d goal of reducing \u2062reliance on Chinese batteries and strengthening \u200dthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/steve-sisolak-is-backing-a-massive-lithium-mine-in-nevada-so-is-a-chinese-company-with-communist-leaders\/\" title=\"Steve Sisolak Is Backing a Massive Lithium Mine in Nevada. So Is a Chinese Company With Communist Leaders.\">domestic battery supply chain<\/a>. With lawmakers \u200band watchdogs expressing their \u2064dissatisfaction, it remains \u2062to be seen how this\u200b issue\u2064 will \u200cbe\u200d addressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last summer, the Biden administration pledged an $850 million loan to KORE Power for a battery plant in Arizona, aiming to reduce reliance on Chinese batteries. However, KORE Power has now partnered with a Chinese battery maker, contradicting the purpose of the taxpayer-funded facility<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":2188567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/president-biden-delivers-remarks-on-his-administrations-efforts-to-com-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2188566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/president-biden-delivers-remarks-on-his-administrations-efforts-to-com-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2188566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2188567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2188566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2188566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2188566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}