A Chinese man has pleaded not guilty after he was arrested and charged with taking photos at a military base in Key West, Florida.
Liao Lyuyou, 27, was charged with three counts of photographing defense installations and one count of entering military property, according to court documents.
Lyuyou pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court on Monday, his attorney Daniel Rashbaum told CNN. The judge ordered him to be detained until the conclusion of his trial.
Law enforcement said they found photos of the Naval Air Station on Liao’s phone when he was arrested on Dec. 26. Lyuyou, who is alleged to have entered the military facility by walking around the perimeter fence along the water, said he was trying to take a photo of the sunrise.
His arrest came a little more than a year after Zhao Qianli, 20, was arrested at the same base. Qianli said he was a lost tourist, but authorities found images of defense installations when they searched his phone and camera. Qianli pleaded guilty in February and was sentenced to one year in prison.
Two other Chinese men, who are students at the University of Michigan, appeared in court earlier this month after they were found taking photographs of the military base. Yuhao Wang and Jielun Zhang, both 24, drove onto the base after security personnel told them they did not have authorization to be there and needed to exit the property.
Though none of the Chinese nationals have been charged with espionage or being agents of a foreign government, the arrests come amid United States officials increasingly warning of Beijing’s threat to national security.
The U.S. quietly expelled two Chinese diplomats last year after they drove onto a sensitive military base in Norfolk, Virginia. It’s the first known expulsions of Chinese diplomats suspected of spying in more than three decades.
