Ford Motor Co. faces a potential congressional subpoena after repeatedly defying House committee chairs’ probes of the company’s deal with a Chinese battery maker. The $3.5 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Michigan licenses technology from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), whose chairman serves on the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body to the communist regime, and gets advice from communist leader Xi Jinping. On Monday, Ford announced pausing the EV battery project, citing commercial competitiveness considerations. Between April and September, the chairs of three House committees—Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce—sent joint and separate requests to Ford’s CEO James Farley, asking for a copy of the licensing agreement and all of Ford’s communications with the Biden administration on the deal’s eligibility for tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/ford-faces-potential-subpoena-over-its-chinese-partnership-as-congress-dials-up-pressure-5499560
A recent report by leading credit firm Fitch Ratings says that although the Chinese communist regime has relaxed some restrictions on home transactions in cities, the policy is likely to have little effect on sales of new homes. Fitch Ratings said on Sept. 25 that in response to the real estate crisis, authorities in China’s first-tier cities recently relaxed mortgage regulations for first-time home buyers, driving a short sales surge in the policy’s first week of implementation. The report noted that in Beijing, home sales peaked in the first week after the definition of first-time home buyers was expanded on Sept. 1. According to data from leading Chinese real estate broker Centaline, 3,500 new homes and 5,000 second-hand homes were sold that week—about half of all August sales.... 
Japanese car giant Mitsubishi Motors is looking to pull out of China entirely amid tough competition from domestic rivals and after a months-long production stoppage of its sport utility vehicle (SUV) lineup after years of falling sales, according to reports. Mitsubishi is in talks with local joint-venture partner Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) on exiting auto-making operations in China, according to the Japanese news outlet Nikkei. The Nikkei report said that GAC will probably convert their joint-production plant, located in Hunan province, into a production base for electric vehicles (EVs). The Japanese automaker did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for confirmation of its exit plan, but a spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company is “discussing future plans among shareholders and nothing is finalized yet.”...
Recent reports shed light on Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s intensified efforts to suppress key figures within military enterprises associated with the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), encompassing the defense, aerospace, and weapons sectors. Information released by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) claims this sweeping operation began six months ago. According to the CCDI on Sept. 20, the operation commenced in March of this year. This timeline aligns with the complete consolidation of power at the central regime core by Mr. Xi’s faction. Six specialized teams from the CCDI were dispatched in two rounds to investigate the CNNC, a significant player in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military-industrial complex. The primary focus of these inspections was procurement and supply chain management, and preventive procurement and bidding....