Last year, two 
nationals arrived at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County and told the guards they were interested in going to the military air museum located on the base.
The pair was turned away because they weren’t allowed to have access. It could have been a benign interest in military aircraft but the pair’s return three days later suggested otherwise.
“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.”
“The People’s Republic of China are very active in their information gathering, intelligence collection. You see it through businesses, you see it through military sites, training. It’s not uncommon. I’d almost say it’s pretty routine for Chinese 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 — I’ll use the word ‘operation’ — on their part.”
mlive.com/politics/2025/
nationals arrived at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County and told the guards they were interested in going to the military air museum located on the base.
The pair was turned away because they weren’t allowed to have access. It could have been a benign interest in military aircraft but the pair’s return three days later suggested otherwise.
“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.”
“The People’s Republic of China are very active in their information gathering, intelligence collection. You see it through businesses, you see it through military sites, training. It’s not uncommon. I’d almost say it’s pretty routine for Chinese 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 — I’ll use the word ‘operation’ — on their part.”
mlive.com/politics/2025/
Quote
Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
Oct 2: FBI charged five nationals Zhekai Xu, Renxiang Guan, Haoming Zhu, Jingzhe Tao and Yi Liang — who were previously University of Michigan undergraduate engineering students from China — with crimes including conspiracy, lying to federal investigators and destroying
Show more nationals Zhekai Xu, Renxiang Guan, Haoming Zhu, Jingzhe Tao and Yi Liang — who were previously University of Michigan undergraduate engineering students from China — with crimes including conspiracy, lying to federal investigators and destroying