Federal agents have arrested a University of Michigan scholar from China on charges she tried to smuggle a biological pathogen into the United States characterized by the FBI as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon that can be used for targeting food crops.
UM scholar Yunqing Jian, 33, appeared in court Tuesday and is being held without bond. Her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, has returned to China. Together they conspired to smuggle Fusarium graminearum, a biological pathogenic fungus, into the U.S. at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on July 27, 2024.
When found hidden in baggies during inspection, the boyfriend Liu lied and said someone must have put them there, but later admitted they were strains of the pathogen he planned to research at UM’s Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory, the same lab where his girlfriend Jian conducts research on Fusarium.
A search of Liu’s iPhone revealed it contained an article titled “2018 Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions.”
Other messages in Liu’s phone from August 2022 revealed that the two conspired for Jian to smuggle seeds into the U.S.
A search of Jian’s phone revealed a form signed last year that included Jian’s pledge to support the Chinese Communist Party.
- Fusarium graminearum is described as “a potential agroterrorism weapon” that can cause “head blight” in certain plants like wheat, corn, rice and barley, and is “responsible for billions of dollars in economic loss worldwide each year,” according to an FBI affidavit.
- “The toxins produced by Fusarium graminearum cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in livestock and humans,” the complaint states.
The complaint does not allege that the two researchers had any plans to spread the fungus beyond the laboratory, but it says Liu was aware of the restrictions on the material and deliberately hid it from authorities.
Authorities found evidence that during her time at the two universities, the Chinese government funded her research on Fusarium graminearum at Zhejiang University.
University of Michigan released a statement saying:
We strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university’s critical public mission. It is important to note that the university has received no funding from the Chinese government in relation to research conducted by the accused individuals. We have and will continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement in its ongoing investigation and prosecution.
- In October, prosecutors also charged five UM graduates from China who were found on a military facility in northern Michigan in 2023 during a U.S. National Guard training exercise with members of the Taiwanese military.
- The five were found with cameras near numerous military vehicles, tents and classified communications equipment during Northern Strike, one of the largest U.S. National Guard training exercises in the United States.