The Justice Department charged five Chinese nationals on Tuesday for allegedly photographing an American military installation in Michigan.
The five individuals are former University of Michigan students Zhekai Xu, Renxiang Guan, Haoming Zhu, Jingzhe Tao, and Yi Liang. The charges stem from an incident in August 2023 when authorities say they were caught taking pictures of military equipment during joint training exercises between the National Guard and the Taiwanese military at Camp Grayling in northern Michigan.
They were accused of making false statements, conspiracy, and destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations over the incident. The five men were in the United States as part of a partnership between the University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
According to an affidavit from FBI special agent Caroline Colpoys, the five were…
