A Chinese scholar’s audacious plot to smuggle a crop-killing pathogen into America’s heartland was thwarted by federal agents.
Yunqing Jian, a 33-year-old University of Michigan scholar, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, face charges for smuggling Fusarium graminearum, a biological pathogen that devastates wheat, barley, and rice, into the U.S., as the Detroit News reports. The FBI’s counterintelligence probe, unsealed in Detroit, exposes a scheme with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. It’s the second case in a week targeting Chinese nationals at the university.
In March 2024, Liu applied for a tourist visa, conveniently omitting plans to sneak in a dangerous fungus. He claimed no intent to engage in espionage or illegal activities. The visa was approved, setting the stage for his July arrival.
On July 27, 2024, Liu landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport with a hidden stash of Fusarium graminearum. Customs officers found a note in Chinese, filter paper, and baggies of reddish plant material tucked in his luggage. Liu initially lied, blaming someone else for the suspicious cargo.
After grilling, Liu admitted the materials were strains of the pathogen, deliberately concealed in tissues to dodge detection. “Liu stated that he intentionally hid the samples in his backpack because he knew there were restrictions,” an FBI agent noted. His confession only digs a deeper hole for this reckless scheme.
Liu planned to use the University of Michigan’s lab, where Jian worked, to clone the pathogen for research. He had access to the facility, either freely or through Jian, raising alarms about lax oversight at academic institutions. The journal Food Security labels this fungus a potential agroterrorism weapon, and for good reason.
Fusarium graminearum wreaks havoc, causing billions in global crop losses annually. Its toxins trigger vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive issues in humans and livestock. Yet Jian and Liu thought it was a fine idea to tinker with it in a university lab.
Jian, a Chinese citizen with a doctorate in plant pathogens, received funding from a Chinese government-backed foundation. Investigators uncovered her ties to the Chinese Communist Party, including a 2023 pledge of loyalty. “The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals… are of the gravest national security concerns,” said interim U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon, nailing the stakes.
Messages from 2022 show Jian’s smuggling wasn’t new -- she once hid seeds in her shoes. “I stuffed them in the shoes,” she wrote to Liu, revealing a cavalier attitude toward biosecurity. Her arrival in San Francisco days later, without declaring biological materials, reeks of calculated deception.
By February 2025, the FBI intensified its probe, interviewing Jian at the university lab. She denied knowing Liu’s plans or assisting his research, but her phone told a different story. Agents seized it, uncovering a 2024 conversation about smuggling substances in a statistics book.
Federal agents intercepted the book, and specialists destroyed the samples. Jian’s lawyer, Senad Ramovic, admitted, “There’s a lot to digest,” as he scrambled to defend her. Meanwhile, Liu fled to China, leaving Jian to face the music alone.
Jian appeared in court Tuesday, held without bond pending a Thursday hearing. She faces charges of conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud, with up to 20 years in prison looming. Liu, safely abroad, remains a fugitive.
This isn’t the university’s first brush with Chinese nationals and federal probes. Last year, five Chinese graduates were charged with snooping on a Michigan military facility during a 2023 National Guard exercise. Their cameras caught sensitive equipment, proving academia can be a soft target.
“The food supply chain is going to be an increasingly tempting target,” warned Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University. Al-Qaeda eyed agriculture post-9/11, and the Earth Liberation Front torched Michigan State’s Agriculture Hall in 1999. History screams we can’t ignore these threats.
FBI Director Kash Patel took to X, stating, “The CCP is working around the clock to… target our food supply, which would have grave consequences.” His words underscore the urgency of securing our institutions from foreign schemes. America’s breadbasket deserves better than being a pawn in geopolitical games.
