One of the suspects allegedly got Chinese regime funding to study Fusarium graminearum, a potential agroterror weapon.
Two Chinese citizens, including one who works at the University of Michigan, were charged on June 2 with visa fraud, conspiracy, making false statements, and smuggling a pathogen into the United States.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced the charges on June 3, ahead of defendant Yunqing Jian’s appearance in federal court.
“The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals—including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party—are of the gravest national security concerns,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said in a statement.
“These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme.”
House Select Committee on the CCP Chair Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who has cautioned universities in Michigan to end partnerships with China, said in a statement the case should be “fully prosecuted as a threat against our country.”
“This is only further proof that American universities must be more vigilant when it comes to research security and the participation of Chinese nationals in these institutions,” he stated.
Pathogen Research Funding
The case comes amid the Trump administration’s announcement of “aggressively” revoking visas for Chinese students, including those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
According to a criminal complaint, Jian, 33, who currently works at the University of Michigan, is a CCP member, and her electronics contained information describing her loyalty to the Party.
Jian allegedly received funding from the Chinese communist regime to study a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which is classified as a potential agroterrorism weapon. Codefendant Zunyong Liu, Jian’s boyfriend, studied the same pathogen at Zhejiang University in China.
The fungus can cause “head blight,” a disease that affects small grain crops and causes losses in the United States of millions of dollars per year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates the fungal disease has cost U.S. farmers $3 billion since 1990.
Organisms that can injure, damage, or cause disease in plants require permits from the USDA to import or handle.
