Weiheng Zeng originally said he took photos of planes for an aviation fan website. Later he admitted a suspected Chinese government official had given him specific locations in the U.S. to go photograph.
Did he actually do anything illegal? It sounds like he spent some time tooling around in a FedEx parking lot, but not much more than that.
Beyond the question of legality, what threat does this actually pose? The Chinese will now have a picture of the aileron of a max 8? It’s not like these planes are some deep secret, they carry the public around.
Being an undeclared foreign agent is illegal, regardless of what you’re doing. I imagine the Chinese government wouldn’t have asked him to take those pictures if they didn’t have some value.
It’s about logistics. Staying updated without attracting attention, supposedly, just in case.
Staying aware of the enemy logistics offers the chance to cripple it early in case of a war. There might not be an active plan for it, but it will be an option if needed.
Of course! He has a Chinese name!
