Latest news with #FusariumGraminearum
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chinese bioterror suspects' arrests signal communist country plotting 'something worse' than COVID: expert
After the pattern of recent covert communist Chinese infiltrations of the U.S. continued with the arrest of two suspected "bioterrorists" in Michigan this week, one expert said it's time to sever relations with China completely. "The only way to stop this is to sever relations with China," attorney and Chinese Communist Party expert Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital. "And I know people think that's drastic, but we are being overwhelmed, and we are going to get hit. And we are going to get hit really hard. Not just with COVID, not just with fentanyl, but perhaps with something worse." Chang was responding to recent news of Chinese nationals Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, who, over a two-year period, were allegedly smuggling Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. and studying it in labs. Jian was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan, whose research was funded in part by the People's Republic of China. Patel: Chinese Nationals Charged With Smuggling 'Known Agroterrorism Agent' Into Us Is A 'Direct Threat' Fusarium graminearum is a toxic fungus that causes a crop-killing "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice that "is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year," according to the Department of Justice. It is also toxic to humans, and can cause vomiting, liver damage and "reproductive defects in humans and livestock." Read On The Fox News App "This couple should be sent to Guantánamo," Chang said. "This Chinese government has declared a 'People's War' on us." A "People's War" is a military strategy developed by brutal former Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, who died in 1976, known for killing tens of millions of Chinese people via starvation and political persecution. Such a war calls for a protracted military and political onslaught meant to exhaust the enemy. Jian and Liu were arrested earlier this week and charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements and visa fraud. "We're Americans, so we think we're entitled to ignore the propaganda of hostile regimes," Chang said. "But for a communist party, [a People's War] has great resonance, and what they're doing with their strident anti-Americanism is creating a justification to strike our country." Suspected Chinese Bioterrorists Smuggled Killer Agent Into Us In Boots, Officials Say "This means, for example, that this couple should be sent to Guantánamo," he said. "This was an attack on the United States at a time when China thought it was at war with us." Since the 2019 People's War decree referenced by Chang, a laundry list of Chinese and Chinese-aligned infiltrators have been caught red-handed in the U.S., especially at American universities. Here's a look back at some of those instances: In 2020, two Chinese nationals who were graduate students at the University of Michigan pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a breach at a Naval air station in Key West, Florida, where they were caught illegally entering and photographing defense infrastructure. Charles Lieber is not a Chinese national, but was convicted in 2021 of making false statements to authorities and failing to report income from his work with China's Wuhan University of Technology. He also had a contract with China's Thousand Talents Program, which "incentivize [their] members to steal foreign technologies needed to advance China's national, military, and economic goals," according to the FBI. He was sentenced to time served, which was two days in prison, and two years of supervised release with six months of home confinement. He also paid various fines and restitution of more than $88,000. In 2022, Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese national who had been a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was convicted after attempting to commit espionage and theft of trade secrets. Chaoqun gathered information from American defense contractors and engineers as part of a plot by high-level Chinese intelligence officials to glean information about U.S. technology advancements. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. In 2024, the FBI filed charges against five Chinese nationals, all students at the University of Michigan, after they were caught allegedly photographing a joint American-Taiwanese training exercise at Camp Grayling, a National Guard training facility in Michigan. Their studies were part of a joint program with Shanghai-based Jiao Tong University. Late last year, a University of Minnesota student and Chinese national named Fengyun Shi was convicted in federal court for illegally taking photos of Norfolk, Virginia, naval bases using a drone. He was sentenced to six months in jail and then deported in May of this year. Chinese Official Claims No Knowledge Of Fungus Situation, Says China Requires Citizens 'Abide By Local Laws' "We can lose our country, even though we're the far stronger nation, because we are not defending ourselves with the vigor and determination that is necessary," Chang told Fox News Digital. Chang also noted that in 2020, Americans in all 50 states received seeds from China unsolicited, which he said "was an attempt to plant invasive species" in the U.S. He also noted that this year, Chinese online retailer Temu did the same. "Imagine walking into your local grocery store and seeing empty shelves where bread, cereal, and even pet food used to be," Jason Pack, a former FBI supervisory special agent, told Fox News Digital. "Prices spike. Supply chains slow down. All because a foreign actor deliberately targeted the crops that keep America fed. That may sound far-fetched, but it's exactly the kind of scenario that becomes possible when someone brings a dangerous agricultural pathogen into the United States. "It doesn't take a bomb to disrupt an economy. It takes a biological agent like Fusarium graminearum introduced into the wrong place at the wrong time. Food prices rise. Livestock suffer. Exports stop. The economic ripple effects are enormous."Original article source: Chinese bioterror suspects' arrests signal communist country plotting 'something worse' than COVID: expert
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Chinese bioterror suspects' arrests signal communist country plotting 'something worse' than COVID: expert
After the pattern of recent covert communist Chinese infiltrations of the U.S. continued with the arrest of two suspected "bioterrorists" in Michigan this week, one expert said it's time to sever relations with China completely. "The only way to stop this is to sever relations with China," attorney and Chinese Communist Party expert Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital. "And I know people think that's drastic, but we are being overwhelmed, and we are going to get hit. And we are going to get hit really hard. Not just with COVID, not just with fentanyl, but perhaps with something worse." Chang was responding to recent news of Chinese nationals Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, who, over a two-year period, were allegedly smuggling Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. and studying it in labs. Jian was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan, whose research was funded in part by the People's Republic of China. Fusarium graminearum is a toxic fungus that causes a crop-killing "head blight," a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice that "is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year," according to the Department of Justice. It is also toxic to humans, and can cause vomiting, liver damage and "reproductive defects in humans and livestock." "This couple should be sent to Guantánamo," Chang said. "This Chinese government has declared a 'People's War' on us." A "People's War" is a military strategy developed by brutal former Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, who died in 1976, known for killing tens of millions of Chinese people via starvation and political persecution. Such a war calls for a protracted military and political onslaught meant to exhaust the enemy. Jian and Liu were arrested earlier this week and charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements and visa fraud. "We're Americans, so we think we're entitled to ignore the propaganda of hostile regimes," Chang said. "But for a communist party, [a People's War] has great resonance, and what they're doing with their strident anti-Americanism is creating a justification to strike our country." "This means, for example, that this couple should be sent to Guantánamo," he said. "This was an attack on the United States at a time when China thought it was at war with us." Since the 2019 People's War decree referenced by Chang, a laundry list of Chinese and Chinese-aligned infiltrators have been caught red-handed in the U.S., especially at American universities. Here's a look back at some of those instances: In 2020, two Chinese nationals who were graduate students at the University of Michigan pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a breach at a Naval air station in Key West, Florida, where they were caught illegally entering and photographing defense infrastructure. Charles Lieber is not a Chinese national, but was convicted in 2021 of making false statements to authorities and failing to report income from his work with China's Wuhan University of Technology. He also had a contract with China's Thousand Talents Program, which "incentivize [their] members to steal foreign technologies needed to advance China's national, military, and economic goals," according to the FBI. He was sentenced to time served, which was two days in prison, and two years of supervised release with six months of home confinement. He also paid various fines and restitution of more than $88,000. In 2022, Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese national who had been a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was convicted after attempting to commit espionage and theft of trade secrets. Chaoqun gathered information from American defense contractors and engineers as part of a plot by high-level Chinese intelligence officials to glean information about U.S. technology advancements. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. In 2024, the FBI filed charges against five Chinese nationals, all students at the University of Michigan, after they were caught allegedly photographing a joint American-Taiwanese training exercise at Camp Grayling, a National Guard training facility in Michigan. Their studies were part of a joint program with Shanghai-based Jiao Tong University. Late last year, a University of Minnesota student and Chinese national named Fengyun Shi was convicted in federal court for illegally taking photos of Norfolk, Virginia, naval bases using a drone. He was sentenced to six months in jail and then deported in May of this year. "We can lose our country, even though we're the far stronger nation, because we are not defending ourselves with the vigor and determination that is necessary," Chang told Fox News Digital. Chang also noted that in 2020, Americans in all 50 states received seeds from China unsolicited, which he said "was an attempt to plant invasive species" in the U.S. He also noted that this year, Chinese online retailer Temu did the same. "Imagine walking into your local grocery store and seeing empty shelves where bread, cereal, and even pet food used to be," Jason Pack, a former FBI supervisory special agent, told Fox News Digital. "Prices spike. Supply chains slow down. All because a foreign actor deliberately targeted the crops that keep America fed. That may sound far-fetched, but it's exactly the kind of scenario that becomes possible when someone brings a dangerous agricultural pathogen into the United States. "It doesn't take a bomb to disrupt an economy. It takes a biological agent like Fusarium graminearum introduced into the wrong place at the wrong time. Food prices rise. Livestock suffer. Exports stop. The economic ripple effects are enormous."
Reuters
2 days ago
- Health
- Reuters
Experts doubt FBI's claim that crop fungus smuggled by Chinese students is a threat
CHICAGO, June 6 (Reuters) - A biological sample that a Chinese researcher was accused of smuggling into the United States and that prosecutors cast as a "dangerous biological pathogen" is a common type of fungus already widespread in U.S. crop fields that likely poses little risk to food safety, experts said. On Tuesday, U.S. federal prosecutors, opens new tab accused two Chinese researchers of smuggling samples of the fungus Fusarium graminearum into the U.S., describing it as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon. Yunqing Jian, 33, a researcher at the University of Michigan's Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology has been charged in connection with allegations that she helped her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, smuggle the pathogen into the U.S. However, agriculture experts interviewed by Reuters this week said the fungus has been in the U.S. for more than a century, can be prevented by spraying pesticides, and is only dangerous if ingested regularly and in large quantities. "As a weapon, it would be a pretty ineffective one," said Jessica Rutkoski, a crop sciences professor, wheat breeder and geneticist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rutkoski and other researchers said extensive testing for the fungus' toxin, widespread use of fungicides and the difficulty of intentionally creating an infection with the pathogen would make it a clumsy weapon. The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI declined Reuters' request for comment. Since the 1900s, U.S. farmers have been battling the fungus, which causes Fusarium head blight, usually known as "scab," which often infects wheat, barley and other grains on farms during rainy years. The telltale pink streaks on the grain heads contain a toxic byproduct called vomitoxin, which is tested for and tightly controlled by grain elevators where farmers sell their crops. Constant testing and monitoring means that only negligible amounts of vomitoxin ever make it into the bread, pasta and cookies Americans eat, far below levels that would sicken a human, experts said. "We have a long history of managing epidemics of scab," said Andrew Friskop, professor and plant pathologist at North Dakota State University, noting that farmers have access to many tools to prevent and control the disease. Farmers began regularly spraying their fields with fungicide as early as the 1990s, and researchers have since developed multiple strains of fungus-resistant wheat. Plant experts said that it would be difficult to fully assess the risks posed by the samples without more information on the particular strain. But Rutkoski, whose research involves intentionally contaminating wheat with the fungus, said that she isn't always successful at infecting her test field's wheat with scab. She said the pathogen is difficult to control, and her lab has to strike the right balance of temperature and humidity to create an infection. In federal court in Detroit on Tuesday, Jian was charged with conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the U.S., smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements and visa fraud. Jian did not comment on the charges, and the lawyer who represented her in court was not immediately available for comment. Liu could not be immediately reached for comment. The court scheduled Jian's bail hearing for June 13.
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Chinese researcher accused of smuggling dangerous biological pathogen into U.S. appears in court
A Chinese national accused of smuggling a "potential agroterrorism weapon" via a noxious fungus into the U.S. appeared in a federal courtroom in Detroit Thursday afternoon for a detention hearing. Yunqing Jian, 33, of the People's Republic of China, appeared alongside a public defender, who asked Judge Kimberly Altman to postpone the detention hearing because Jian is in the process of retaining private counsel. Altman agreed to postpone the hearing until June 13 and ordered that Jian remain in custody until then. Yunqing Jian, 33, of the People's Republic of China, appeared in federal court Thursday for a detention hearing. Carole Kabrin Jian, along with her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements and visa fraud. Jian is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Officials allege that Liu, who works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen, first lied but later admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum through Detroit Metropolitan Airport so that he could conduct research on it at a laboratory at the University of Michigan, where Jian worked. Scientific literature classifies Fusarium graminearum as a potential agroterrorism weapon. Officials say the "noxious fungus causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Fusarium graminearum's toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock." Jian is accused of receiving funding from the Chinese government for her work on this pathogen in China. The FBI alleges that her electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. The FBI arrested Jain on Tuesday. Liu has since returned to China. Javed Ali, a counter-terrorism expert at the University of Michigan, says that based on information from the criminal complaint, it doesn't appear that this was a legitimate attempt at research. "The attempts to conceal the connection to the Chinese Communist Party with the female grad student, the multiple attempts to covertly bring in this pathogen, if that's the right way to describe it," Ali said. "The communications they were having for a couple years talking about different methods of concealment." FBI Director Kash Patel called the case "a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk." The University of Michigan issued a statement Tuesday, saying officials "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." The FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are handling the investigation. and contributed to this report.
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Counter-terrorism expert weighs in on fungus allegedly smuggled into Michigan
Two people, Yunqing Jian, a 33-year-old postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, are accused of smuggling a dangerous pathogen called "Fusarium graminearum" through the Detroit Metro Airport last summer. The Chinese nationals are charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud Javed Ali, a counter-terrorism expert at the University of Michigan, says that based on information from the official criminal complaint, it doesn't look like a legitimate attempt at research. "The attempts to conceal the connection to the Chinese Communist Party with the female grad student, the multiple attempts to covertly bring in this pathogen if that's the right way to describe it. The communications they were having for a couple years talking about different methods of concealment." FBI Director Kash Patel addressed the charges against Jian and Liu on social media saying, "This case is a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk." Ali says that while there are still many unanswered questions, he sees this case as potentially another example of a foreign adversary seeking a way to penetrate top American universities. "There has been and perhaps will be in the future this sort of persistent and enduring threat not only the University of Michigan but higher education in general from foreign Governments," he said. The University of Michigan released a statement on Wednesday saying that officials "strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm or threaten national security" and that they have "received no funding from the Chinese government in relation to research conducted by the accused individuals." Jian is scheduled to be in court for a detention hearing on Thursday.
