Chinese Nationals Accused of Pathogen Smuggling Spark National Security Concerns Over CCP Infiltration

โ€˜The CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions,โ€™ FBI Director Kash Patel said.

FBI Director Kash Patel and some Republican lawmakers are sounding the alarm about threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), after two Chinese nationals were charged with smuggling a pathogen into the United States.

โ€œThis case is a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences … putting American lives and our economy at serious risk,โ€ Patel wrote on social media platform X on June 3.

Center>

The U.S. Attorneyโ€™s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced charges against Jian Yunqing, 33, and Liu Zunyong, 34, on June 3. According to a criminal complaint, Liu, a researcher currently in China, applied for a B-2 visa in March 2024 and brought the pathogen, a fungus known as Fusarium graminearum, into the United States while visiting Jian, his girlfriend, in July 2024.

According to Patel, Fusarium graminearum is an โ€œagroterrorism agent,โ€ and the fungus can cause โ€œhead blight,โ€ a disease that can devastate wheat, barley, maize, and rice and cause health problems in humans and livestock.

Jian is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory at the University of Michigan, which offered her a fellowship position in 2023, according to the complaint. She applied for a J-1 visa in June 2022.

The FBI agents found an electronic document in Jianโ€™s cellphone โ€œdescribing her membership and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party,โ€ according to the complaint.

The two defendants were charged with visa fraud, conspiracy, making false statements, and smuggling goods into the United States.

โ€œSmuggling a known agroterrorism agent into the U.S. is not just a violation of law, itโ€™s a direct threat to national security,โ€ Patel stated, according to an X post from his spokeswoman, Erica Knight.

Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said the latest case highlights the need to pass their legislation (S 1086 and HR 2147), which is called the STOP CCP Visas Act.

โ€œThis is insane. These CCP-linked foreign nationals are weaponizing student visas in an attempt to poison our countryโ€”AGAIN!!โ€ Moody wrote on X on June 3.

โ€œThe time to pass my Stop CCP VISAs Act is now,โ€ Moore wrote.

If enacted, the legislation would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to ban the admission of Chinese nationals as nonimmigrant students.

Byย Frank Fang

Read Full Article on TheEpochTimes.com

The Epoch Times
The Epoch Timeshttps://www.theepochtimes.com/
Tired of biased news? The Epoch Times is truthful, factual news that other media outlets don't report. No spin. No agenda. Just honest journalism like it used to be.

Columns

Trans-wormal

No worm ever said "I am anthropomorphizing, I am a butterfly" to a toad or flock of geese and expected acknowledgement and support.

In Greenlandโ€™s Icy Capital, Past Troubles Haunt Hopes for the Future

As geopolitical realities and ongoing economic growth raise the stakes, U.S. interest in Greenland and the dream of independence may change things in a big way.

How a Chinese Government Statistician Was Forced to Report Fake Data

Chinese local govt employee produced a non-authorized report on bees and was visited by police and threatened with being sent to a mental hospital.

โ€˜This One Time, at Groomer Campโ€™

All Camp Brave Trails programs focus on helping LGBTQ+ youth find what they need most to thrive: their people, their place, and their passion.

Why Recognizing a Palestinian State Now Undermines U.S. Interestsย 

A recent American Conservativeย article suggests President Trump recognize a Palestinian state, but this would undermine the interests of the United States.

News

Guatemalan Deportee Arrives in US After Judge Orders Trump Admin to Facilitate Return

โ€œAmericaโ€™s asylum system was never intended to be used as a de facto amnesty program or a catch-all, get-out-of-deportation-free card,โ€ McLaughlin said.

Trump-Musk Feud Escalates Over Spending Bill: 5 Things to Know

A public feud between Musk and Trump took a turn for the worse. Musk claimed president wouldnโ€™t have won without him and president suggested Muskโ€™s subsidies could be pulled.

Supreme Court Rules 9-0 Wisconsin Violated First Amendment by Denying Tax Exemption to Catholic Charity

Supreme Court ruled unanimously that WI violated the First Amendment by not granting Catholic charity an exemption from paying unemployment tax.

Appeals Court Rules San Diegoโ€™s Yoga Ban Is Unconstitutional

The city of San Diegoโ€™s ban on yoga classes in public parks and beaches was ruled unconstitutional by a federal appeals court.

Supreme Court Rejects Mexicoโ€™s Lawsuit Against Gun Companies

SCOTUS said gun companies should not face lawsuit in which Mexican govt was trying to hold them liable for cartel-related violence involving firearms from US.

FDA Not Recommending Newly Approved COVID-19 Vaccine: Official

FDA approved a new COVID-19 vaccine but is not recommending people receive it, the agencyโ€™s top vaccine officials said on June 4.

Self-Sufficiency Summits in Ohio Reflect Surging Interest in Homesteading

After an age of reliance on store-bought items, many Americans are returning to a self-sufficient lifestyle and growing and raising the food they consume.

Judge Requires Trump Admin to Provide Due Process for Deportees in El Salvador Prison

Boasberg ordered Trump admin to provide habeas relief for individuals it deported and are held in Salvadoran maximum security prison.
spot_img

Related Articles