On June 3, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of two Chinese nationals — 33-year-old Jian Yunqing and 34-year-old Liu Zunyong — both with reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The pair are accused of smuggling Fusarium graminearum, a fungus classified as an agricultural bioterrorism agent, from China into the United States.
Details, released by the Detroit Federal Court, said that Jian Yunqing and Liu Zunyong are accused of bringing the fungus from China through a Detroit airport.
According to the Food Security magazine, Fusarium graminearum can destroy wheat, barley, corn, and rice crops, and is known to cause billions of dollars in global losses each year. Worse still, the toxins produced by this fungus can make livestock and humans vomit, damage livers, and cause reproductive issues.
In the 1990s, outbreaks in the U.S. Midwest, chiefly North Dakota and Minnesota, wiped out large portions of wheat crop, causing over $3 billion in cumulative losses from 1991 to 1996.
Contaminated grain is often unfit for human or animal consumption and leads to lower market values, rejected shipments and export restrictions.
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Prosecutors pointed out that Jian Yunqing had received funding from the Communist Chinese government to conduct research on this pathogen while she was in China.
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The charges and investigations
In addition to smuggling, Jian and Liu face several federal charges including conspiracy to deceive the U.S., lying to investigators, visa fraud, and more.
Jian Yunqing is a Chinese national with a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Zhejiang University.
Investigators found that she’s a Chinese Communist Party member. Prosecutors say she received funding from Chinese government-backed foundations to do postdoctoral research.
The U.S. Customs agents actually discovered the Fusarium graminearum sample on Jian Yunqing’s boyfriend, Liu Zunyong.
FBI agents wrote in court documents that when CBP officers questioned Liu, he lied about his purpose of visiting and claimed he didn’t know about the biological sample in his bag. Later, under FBI questioning, he admitted, “I knew bringing this stuff was restricted, so I hid the sample in my backpack—I just wanted to work with my girlfriend in the lab.”
Liu’s phone contained an article titled, “The War of Plant Pathogens Under Climate Change in 2018,” which clearly stated the fungus’s destructive impact on crops.
Agents also said Liu admitted to smuggling the pathogen so he and Jian could work on it together at the University of Michigan lab.
Liu worked at a Chinese university, researching the same pathogen. Before Liu returned to China in April 2024, the couple had been working together at the Michigan lab.
Investigators also found 2022 WeChat messages between Liu and Jian, discussing how to smuggle the fungus into the United States.
Liu wrote, “I’ll put them in my Martin boots. In a small bag. Sealed. Very small,” to which Jian replied, “Good, just put them in your shoes.”
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Federal prosecutors warning
In a statement, acting U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said, “The actions of these Chinese nationals—including a loyal CCP member—raise serious national security concerns. They’re accused of bringing a fungus described as a ‘potential agricultural terrorism weapon’ into America’s heartland, clearly aiming to use the Michigan lab to advance their plan.
Former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack told Fox News Digital that a deliberate attack on America’s agricultural system would have devastating economic and social consequences.
He said, “Imagine walking into your local supermarket and seeing empty shelves for bread, cereal, or even pet food. Prices skyrocket, supply chains freeze, just because a foreign power decided to target the crops that feed Americans.”
“It might sound like fiction, but if someone brings in a dangerous agricultural pathogen like Fusarium graminearum at the wrong time and place, it could happen. To disrupt the economy, you don’t need bombs—just something like this fungus. Grain prices surge, livestock suffer, exports stop—it all snowballs,” he warned.
Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Fox News, “I’m not surprised at all. It’s tragic, but this shows the CCP wants to kill Americans.”
“Look at how they’ve smuggled fentanyl precursors to kill Americans, and how they let COVID-19 spread unchecked. Now, they want to use pathogens and bioweapons to attack us here at home. They’re waging a Cold War. They want to be the world’s top power, to make the world safe for their tyranny and unsafe for freedom. They’re attacking us.”
Commentator Gordon Chang warned that this is just another example of the CCP’s infiltration of the U.S.—and if America doesn’t sever ties with the CCP, the next attack could be worse than COVID-19.
“Cutting ties with the CCP completely is the only real solution,” Chang told Fox News Digital. “I know that sounds extreme, but we’re facing overwhelming threats—and a major attack is coming. Not just COVID, not just fentanyl, but something potentially even more terrifying.”
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Notable cases of Chinese espionage
This is but the most recent example of Chinese communist espionage on American soil.
In 2020, two Chinese students snuck onto the Naval Air Station in Key West, Florida, and filmed military facilities. They were arrested and later pled guilty.
In 2021, Charles Lieber, Chair of Harvard’s Chemistry Department, was convicted for failing to disclose his collaboration with Wuhan University of Technology and the $1.5 million he received from the Chinese government. Lieber had also signed up for the CCP’s “Thousand Talents Program,” which the FBI described as “encouraging members to steal foreign technology to serve China’s national, military, and economic goals.”
A year later, former Chinese student Ji Chaoqun at Illinois Institute of Technology was sentenced to eight years in prison for trying to steal classified information from a U.S. defense contractor.
In 2024, five Chinese students at the University of Michigan were indicted by the FBI for filming a joint U.S.-Taiwan military drill at Camp Grayling in Michigan. They were part of an academic project in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
At the end of 2024, Chinese student Shi Fengyun from the University of Minnesota was sentenced by a federal court to six months in jail for using a drone to film the Norfolk naval base in Virginia, and was deported back to China in May 2024.
In addition, the Congressional Select Committee on the CCP revealed last year that the Chinese government had funneled $220 million to UC Berkeley to help set up a large joint research institute in China—none of which was properly disclosed as required by law.
And just this week, U.S. border patrol agents seized 50,000 kilograms of precursor chemicals for making methamphetamine—chemicals that came from China and were bound for Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, besides supplying the chemicals for illegal drug manufacturing, Chinese entities were also key players in laundering money for the cartel.
