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GM responds to accusations that it’s financing Chinese communist film

Amanda Carey Contributor
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On Tuesday, reports surfaced accusing General Motors (GM) of sponsoring and financing a Chinese communist propaganda film. First reported by the Washington Times, the story is winding its way through the web and and risks becoming another blight on “Government Motors.”

According to Greg Martin, director of policy and Washington communications for GM, the automotive company played no role in the film celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“It was not GM,” Martin flatly told The Daily Caller.

The sponsor, Shanghai GM, said Martin, is a distribution and sales network that “is a completely separate and distinct business entity based in China that has no organizational or financial ties whatsoever” to the Detroit-based company.

“It is not GM. It is not GM money. And it is in no shape or form, or indirectly, taxpayer money,” Martin told TheDC.

He confirmed that no GM vehicles appear in the film, though some of the actors were transported in Cadillacs.

In 2009, GM received a $50 billion bailout from the federal government. While GM has been working to pay off the loan, the U.S. Treasury still owns a 33 percent stake in the company.

China’s emerging auto market has been enormously beneficial to GM sales. The company not only surpassed Toyota in sales this year, but in 2010, GM sold more cars in China than it did in the U.S.

“It’s disappointing and somewhat predictable,” Martin said of the news reports. “It’s unfortunate.”