בארה"ב חוקרים: אזרחי סין מצלמים ואוספים מידע על מתקנים צבאיים אמריקניים

Michigan lawmakers are finding out more about the Chinese regime's efforts to take photos and gather information at U.S. military installations. The head of the Michigan National Guard testified before state lawmakers this week about the practice. The People's Republic of China are very active in their information gathering, intelligence collection, really you see it through businesses, you see it through military sites, training. It's not uncommon, it's actually I'd almost say it's pretty routine for Chinese nationals, PRC, People's Republic of China nationals to be tasked to go somewhere and actively try to get onto a base, a military base, try to gain entry into a restricted area. And if they get entry to collect certain pieces of information, whatever it may be of interest, but it's fairly routine and well established that this is an active, ongoing. Major General Paul Rogers pointed to an incident in 2023. The military found five Chinese nationals taking photos in classified military equipment inside Camp Grayling in northern Michigan. That's the training facility for the Michigan Army National Guard. This led to an FBI investigation. The five were identified as Chinese students at the Michigan University, but they all managed to flee the U.S. to avoid arrest. The general warns that this is not an isolated incident and it's been happening everywhere. A year ago, we had two individuals show up at the gate at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. They wanted to go and visit the museum. And they were both PRC nationals. And they got turned away by the guards there because they're not allowed to have access. That alone is like, okay, well, that could happen, you know, if somebody likes military aircraft and they want to show up somewhere. But the fact that those same two individuals showed up three days later at the same gate hoping to find a guard that would not be doing their due diligence and tried to gain access again using the exact same excuse. It's a constant probing. And it's a little cat and mouse. And they're not breaking any laws, right, so there's nothing that can be done about it. But you know it's not with good intent. According to the Justice Department, back in 2020, three Chinese nationals were sentenced to prison for illegally taking photos inside the U.S. Naval Air Station in Key West, Florida. Notably, two of them were also students at the University of Michigan.