In a disturbing twist to rising tensions between the U.S. and China, federal authorities arrested two Chinese nationals in Michigan this week, accusing them of smuggling a dangerous crop-killing fungus into the country, a move that some experts say could signal something far more sinister.
“The only way to stop this is to sever relations with China,” warned Gordon Chang, a renowned attorney and expert on the Chinese Communist Party. Chang didn’t mince words: “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.”
Scientists or Saboteurs?
The individuals at the center of this alarming case, 33-year-old Yunqing Jian and her partner, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, are accused of importing and studying Fusarium graminearum, a potent fungal agent that devastates crops such as wheat, rice, maize, and barley. Jian had been working as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Michigan, with some of her work reportedly funded by the Chinese government.
Federal authorities claim the pair smuggled the fungus over a two-year span, with laboratory investigations pointing to research activities that raised serious national security questions.
Fusarium graminearum is no benign organism. According to the Department of Justice, the fungus is “responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.” On top of that, it poses risks to human and animal health, potentially triggering vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive harm.
A ‘People’s War’ Strategy?
“This couple should be sent to Guantánamo,” said Chang bluntly. “This Chinese government has declared a ‘People’s War’ on us.”
That chilling phrase isn’t metaphorical. A “People’s War” refers to a military strategy crafted by Mao Zedong, the infamous former Communist Party chairman who ruled China through an era of famine, violence, and iron-fisted ideology. The strategy revolves around long-term, coordinated attacks designed to exhaust and destabilize an opponent.
A statue of Mao still looms in Zhongshan Square in Shenyang, China an eerie reminder of his legacy and the ideological playbook some fear the current regime is still following.
Fungus in Boots, Lies on Visas
Federal prosecutors have charged Jian and Liu with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the U.S., making false statements, and visa fraud.
“This was an attack on the United States at a time when China thought it was at war with us,” said Chang, doubling down on his assessment of the event as a prelude to something larger. “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.”
A Pattern of Penetration
This isn’t the first time Chinese nationals, or those linked to Chinese institutions have raised red flags on U.S. soil.
In 2020, two graduate students from the University of Michigan were caught trespassing at a naval base in Key West, Florida, photographing sensitive military infrastructure.
A year later, Harvard professor Charles Lieber, though not a Chinese citizen, was convicted of concealing his ties to China’s Thousand Talents Program and failing to disclose large payments from Wuhan University of Technology. The program, per the FBI, incentivizes participants “to steal foreign technologies needed to advance China’s national, military, and economic goals.”
Then in 2022, Ji Chaoqun, a former student at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was convicted for espionage-related activities. Working with Chinese intelligence, he targeted American defense contractors and researchers. His sentence: eight years in federal prison.
Academic Ties, Strategic Spying
The connections between American academia and alleged Chinese infiltration don’t end there.
In 2024, five University of Michigan students—linked to Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University, were charged with photographing a U.S.-Taiwanese joint training exercise at Camp Grayling, a National Guard site.
And just last year, a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota, Fengyun Shi, was convicted after using a drone to snap images of naval installations in Norfolk, Virginia. He was sentenced to six months and deported in May.
The Agricultural Trojan Horse
What makes this latest case especially chilling is the method of attack: biology, not bullets.
“Imagine walking into your local grocery store and seeing empty shelves where bread, cereal, and even pet food used to be,” said Jason Pack, a former FBI supervisory special agent. “Prices spike. Supply chains slow down. All because a foreign actor deliberately targeted the crops that keep America fed.”
He continued, “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.”
Seeds of Suspicion
Chang pointed to another eerie chapter: in 2020, unsolicited seed packages from China showed up in mailboxes across all 50 states. U.S. officials warned Americans not to plant them, fearing they could be invasive species. Chang now sees that incident as part of a broader pattern.
This year, he says, Chinese e-commerce giant Temu allegedly did the same, flooding U.S. households with questionable seed samples.
“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 warned.
What’s Next?
If these arrests are any indication, the U.S. may already be under a slow, silent siege, one that bypasses conventional warfare in favor of infiltration, influence, and sabotage.
The smuggling of a lethal fungus isn’t just a footnote. For some, it’s a five-alarm fire.
