[People News] On June 3 of this year, 33-year-old Chinese national researcher Yunqing Jian, who once worked at the University of Michigan, was imprisoned after being accused of smuggling into the United States a fungus with highly destructive agricultural potential and lying to the FBI. Because this fungus produces a toxin commonly known as “vomitoxin,” it is considered a serious risk to public and agricultural safety.

Recently, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan issued a notice stating that Jian Yunqing has admitted to two charges: illegally smuggling a biological pathogen and making false statements to the FBI. The court ruled that the five months she had already served would count as her sentence, and she was immediately deported.

FBI Director Dan Bongino also confirmed the news on the X platform, emphasizing that “foreign powers will not be allowed to use America’s top universities to conduct dangerous research.”

According to a BBC report from June this year, prosecutors from the Eastern District of Michigan stated in the indictment that 34-year-old Zunyong Liu attempted to smuggle the fungus through Detroit Airport so that his girlfriend, Jian Yunqing, could conduct research on it in her laboratory at the University of Michigan.

The report noted that this fungus, known as Fusarium graminearum, causes diseases in wheat, barley, corn, and rice and can destroy crops. If it enters food, it can cause vomiting and liver damage. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, scientific literature describes this fungus as a “potential agricultural terrorism weapon,” and says it causes “billions of dollars in annual global economic losses.”

U.S. officials further pointed out that Jian Yunqing is a member of the Chinese Communist Party and received funding from the Chinese government for her research on the pathogen in China.

U.S. prosecutor Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. described these charges as “a most serious national security issue.”

As for Zunyong Liu, who remains in China, U.S. authorities have filed charges against him, but The Guardian noted that because he is currently in China, the possibility of him returning to the United States to stand trial in the near future is extremely low.

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