On Wednesday, the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri announced that yet another Chinese national, one Qilin Wu, was caught snapping photographs of a United States Air Force base, along with taking photos of various equipment.
Wu is being charged with photographing U.S. military facilities and equipment without authorization.
United States Attorney R. Matthew Price today announced the filing of a criminal complaint against Qilin Wu, 35, in the Western District of Missouri. The complaint charges Wu with one count of taking photographs of a vital military installation and military equipment without authorization, in violation of U.S. law.
It doesn't get any better when you look at the details, all laid out in the press release:
The complaint alleges that on December 2, 2025, the Whiteman Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) investigated a report of a suspicious minivan bearing a Massachusetts license plate near the perimeter of the military installation. Air Force patrolmen were dispatched to the area to investigate, and encountered Wu, who stated that he was there to observe the B-2 Spirit aircraft. The patrolmen informed Wu that he was not permitted to take photographs or make video recordings of the military installation.
The following day, according to the complaint, AFOSI was notified that the same minivan was again identified at a perimeter fence of Whiteman Air Force Base. AFOSI agents went to the area to investigate and again made contact with Wu. Wu admitted to taking videos of the B-2 Spirit aircraft and numerous photographs of Whiteman’s perimeter fencing, a gate, and military equipment. Wu showed investigators his phone, including images of Whiteman Air Force Base and military equipment that Wu had recorded. In total, investigators observed 18 images and videos that Wu admitted he had taken of the installation and of military equipment. Wu also admitted to having photographed another U.S. Air Force base and its military aircraft as well.
There's only one reason why Wu would be photographing this base and this equipment, including the B-2 bombers: He is intelligence-gathering. He may be doing it on the behest of the Chinese Communist Party, or he may be doing it on his own hook, perhaps in the notion of using the images to curry favor later, after a possible return to China. But he's intelligence-gathering all the same.
American military bases and military equipment seem to be drawing a lot of attention from Chinese photographers lately. American agricultural land near those military bases seems to be drawing a lot of attention from Chinese real-estate buyers, as well.
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Taken as a pattern, this looks a lot like an unfriendly nation's intelligence-gathering and possibly positioning resources for a possible attack - or at least a disruption.
According to court documents, Wu is a Chinese national who illegally entered the United States on June 22, 2023, near Nogales, Arizona. At that time, Wu was arrested by immigration authorities for illegally being present in the United States. Due to a lack of detention space, Wu was released on his own recognizance to await immigration removal proceedings originally scheduled for February 9, 2027.
You don't say.
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