Overview

• Yunqing Jian, a University of Michigan postdoctoral researcher, was arrested on June 3 and faces charges including smuggling, conspiracy and visa fraud ahead of her June 13 detention hearing.
• Her partner, researcher Zunyong Liu, was stopped at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in July 2024 with concealed samples of Fusarium graminearum and was deported to China, where he remains at large.
• Fusarium graminearum is a potent plant pathogen that causes head blight in wheat, barley, maize and rice and produces toxins linked to vomiting, liver damage and reproductive defects.
• US officials classify the fungus as a potential agroterrorism agent and warn that importing foreign strains could introduce more virulent or pesticide-resistant variants.
• The case has prompted the administration to tighten visa rules for Chinese nationals and fueled warnings about Chinese Communist Party efforts to infiltrate US research institutions.