The US Department of Justice and the FBI last week revealed a shocking case of biological infiltration. In June last year, Chinese researcher Liu Zunyong attempted to smuggle the toxic fungus Fusarium graminearum — which scientific literature classifies as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” — into the US while visiting his girlfriend, Chinese scientist Jian Yunqing.
The fungus is a highly hazardous pathogen capable of causing head blight, a disease that affects staple crops such as wheat, barley, maize and rice. It not only devastates crops, but its toxins can also cause vomiting, liver damage and reproductive defects in humans and livestock.
The case was not a mere instance of attempted smuggling — it was a strategic act of biological infiltration. Behind it is a broader Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plot to infiltrate nations under the guise of scientific cooperation, posing a deadly threat to the entire world.
Citing US court documents, media reports said that Jian is a member of the CCP. She purportedly received Chinese government funding for her work on the same pathogen in China, and the laboratory she worked in at the University of Michigan did not have authorization to handle the fungus.
Liu was caught carrying samples of red plant material in his backpack at the Detroit airport. He later told authorities he intended to bring the fungus to the university laboratory where Jian worked. Authorities also found a scientific article on Liu’s phone, titled “Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions.”
Investigators also found communications between the two about working together, while Jian’s devices contained information describing her membership in and loyalty to the CCP.
The FBI said that the incident posed an imminent threat to public safety, and was a concrete example of the CCP using scientific exchange as a pretext to conduct intelligence operations in the US.
The CCP’s so-called “scientific cooperation” has been diminished into nothing but a tool for undermining the social order and agricultural foundations of democratic nations. If the fungal pathogen were to spread to North America’s Great Plains region or other major grain-producing areas, it could not only cause tens of billions of US dollars in economic losses, but could also devastate the global food supply chain.
Amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, global food prices are continuing to rise and global supply chains are weakening. The CCP’s attempt to utilize pathogens as a means of unrestricted warfare further threatens global food security. The incident far exceeds mere political confrontation — it is an evil act that risks the very survival of humanity.
The case should serve as a wake-up call to the entire free world. The CCP has not been restrained by international oversight. Rather, it has bolstered its efforts to carry out hostile infiltration and sabotage operations under the cover of academic exchanges and scientific cooperation.
In the face of the CCP’s asymmetric, unconventional and extremely harmful operations, the only way the free world can prevent a global catastrophe is by thoroughly investigating and uncovering the CCP’s strategic placements across various sectors, such as in scientific research, agriculture and biotechnology.
The CCP regime’s malicious act of weaponizing scientific research must be strongly condemned. All democratic nations should promptly enhance their review mechanisms for foreign researchers and establish lines of defense to ensure agricultural and biological security. The world must stand united to expose the CCP’s disguise and jointly safeguard the global food supply and humanity’s survival.
Elliot Yao is a reviewer.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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