By Eva Fu
Federal authorities arrested a Chinese national on Dec. 26 morning after he entered and photographed a restricted naval base in Florida.
At around 6:50 a.m. local time, witnesses observed Liao Lyuyou, a Chinese national, walking along the secure fence line of the Naval Air Station in Key West. He then entered the facility by going around the perimeter fence and entering the military base from the rocks along the water, according to the federal complaint.
The special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, who filed the complaint, noted “numerous warnings” on the security fence cautioning against trespassing.
Despite verbal warning from witnesses that he should not be in the restricted area, Liao proceeded to enter and take multiple photos with his camera.
When U.S. military police came to question Liao a few minutes later, Liao explained in broken English that he was “trying to take photographs of the sunrise.” The officers, however, found photographs of the restricted Truman Annex area on his camera.
Section 1382 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code of Laws prohibits any individual from entering any military installations prohibited by law.
By photographing the military base, Liao also violated Section 795 of Title 18, a criminal offense is punishable by up to one year in prison as well as fines.
Liao made his first appearance in court on Dec. 27, which lasted for less than half an hour. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hunt named the federal public defender’s office to represent Liao and scheduled his pretrial custody hearing for Jan. 6. His arraignment will be a week later.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Friday called the incident “incredibly concerning” on Twitter. He also noted that it is “not the first time this has happened with Chinese nationals.”
Liao’s arrest took place a little over one year after prosecutors charged another Chinese national for a similar incident.
Zhao Qianli, a 21-year-old from China’s Shanxi Province, was arrested in September 2018 for illegally taking photos of the U.S. Naval Air Station Key West and the surrounding military facilities.
According to the court document, Zhao walked directly toward the Joint Interagency Task Force South Antenna Field and took multiple photographs with his phone as well as a camera. A search through the photos showed that Zhao also photographed the restricted warning signs.
Zhao told investigators at the time that he was “lost” and that he was a “dishwasher from New Jersey,” but later claimed that he was a music student at a Chinese university during a December debriefing.
Officials found a police blouse and a belt buckle from the hotel where Zhao was staying that belonged to a Chinese government ministry, which he said he obtained from his father who wanted him to “have nice clothes” while in the United States.
Zhao was sentenced in February to one year in federal prison after pleading guilty to photographing defense installations. He will be deported after serving the sentence.
Earlier in the month, the U.S government “secretly expelled” two Chinese Embassy officials who allegedly drove into a military base in Virginia.
The two were accompanied by their wives as they drove through the entry checkpoint of the base despite being denied permission, evading military personnel that pursued them.
In September, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from China was charged with spying for the Chinese government.
Xuehua “Edward” Peng, who has a degree in double engineering, came to the United States on a temporary business visa in 2001 and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2012. He had been working as a tour guide in the San Francisco Bay area.
Prosecutors believed Peng was acting as a “courier” for China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s top intelligence organization, and passing on classified U.S. national security information through secure digital (SD) cards.
“This case illustrates the seriousness of Chinese espionage efforts and the determination of the United States to thwart them,” Assistant Attorney General of National Security John Demers said while unsealing the charges.
