A high-profile US investigation into Fuyao Glass America – a Chinese firm featured in the acclaimed US documentary American Factory – and its contractors has raised fresh concerns in China amid bilateral tensions.
Hundreds of special agents from multiple US law enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation served search warrants at the Fuyao plant in Moraine, Ohio and 27 other locations in the Dayton metropolitan area on Friday.
“Special agents are on scene investigating allegations of financial crimes and labour exploitation,” a statement from Homeland Security said.
An observer in China warned that the raids could become a “talking point” in the US presidential election.
The investigation comes at a time when US politicians continue to plan containment measures targeting China ahead of November’s presidential election. They also coincided with Beijing’s announcement of a Chinese business delegation’s visit to the United States from Saturday “to consolidate economic and trade cooperation”.
Homeland Security officials said activities tied to the investigation were going on in Dayton, Liberty Township, Miamisburg, Moraine and West Carrollton.
Local newspaper Dayton Daily News quoted a Homeland Security special agent as saying that the investigation was focused on money laundering, potential human smuggling, labour exploitation and financial crimes.
“Law enforcement is working diligently to identify victims to provide them with services and to gather evidence relevant to the investigation,” the agent said.
Fuyao Group on Sunday confirmed that Fuyao Glass America – its wholly-owned subsidiary in Ohio – was searched by US federal government agencies and supporting local law enforcement personnel at around 10am local time on Friday. The US government agents completed their on-site investigation and left at around 5pm, it added.
Fuyao Glass America “is not the target of the investigation”, the group said, citing US government agencies, and was mainly cooperating with the ongoing investigation into a third-party labour service company.
Fuyao Glass America’s vice-president Amy Lei said federal agents and local law enforcement officers visited the company as part of an investigation “which we believe involves certain [Fuyao] contractors”.
“The company intends to cooperate fully with the investigation. As a result, part of our first shift and the second shift operations were suspended. [Fuyao] has resumed production in the third shift and we believe our production and delivery will not be impacted,” Lei said in a statement released to local media.
In a recording taken inside the Fuyao plant and posted to Facebook, a Homeland Security agent was seen telling workers that the company was not the target of the investigation at this time, and that there was no intention to arrest anyone at the plant on Friday.
According to local media, several residents reported sightings of suspected illegal workers living in the neighbourhood. The Dayton Daily News said it received a tip earlier this month raising questions about a staffing company potentially improperly providing workers to Fuyao.
An international relations professor at Tsinghua University said it was too early to comment on the impact of the Fuyao raids as there was “no official conclusion from the US law enforcement yet”.
“From what’s in the media, it seems to be mainly related to the issue of illegal workers. As an auto-glass manufacturer, Fuyao is far less sensitive than other industries like chip manufacturing. But the timing of the raid is sensitive as it might become a talking point in the run-up to the US presidential election,” he said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
02:11
Trump vows high tariffs on China-made cars in his first speech after assassination attempt
Trump vows high tariffs on China-made cars in his first speech after assassination attempt
Ohio State Senator Niraj Antani posted a statement on X, saying he was “deeply concerned” by Friday’s law enforcement action at Fuyao.
“Before I was elected, the State of Ohio, through JobsOhio, provided millions of dollars in incentives to Fuyao, understanding that American jobs would be created. I look forward to learning more about today,” he said.
Fuyao became a much-watched symbol of Chinese investment in the US against the backdrop of the Sino-US trade war in 2019, after the Netflix documentary American Factory revealed the life of US workers at Fuyao’s plant in Ohio and generated strong interest in both countries.
The film, backed by the production company of former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama, documents how the Chinese auto-glass company brought not only new jobs to Ohio, but also the high expectations and harsh management style customary in factories across China.
On Saturday, Xie Feng, the Chinese ambassador to the US, said China’s development and Sino-US cooperation had provided “sustained growth momentum for the US economy”, along with a huge market for US companies and high-quality and low-cost goods for the American people.
Addressing a seminar in San Francisco to mark 45 years of bilateral ties, Xie said more than 70,000 US companies had benefited from China’s growth and exports to China alone had created 930,000 jobs in the US.
“The two sides should complement rather than hurt each other, [try to] lengthen the cooperation list, shorten the ‘negative list’, and use the successful story of dialogue and cooperation to negate the narrative of zero-sum game,” he said.
