The arrest of two Chinese nationals, Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, in Michigan on June 3, 2025, for allegedly smuggling a toxic crop-killing fungus into the U.S. has sent alarm bells ringing across national security circles.

Charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud, the couple’s actions—hiding Fusarium graminearum in boots and studying it at a University of Michigan lab—have experts warning that China may be plotting a biological attack far worse than COVID-19.

The case, exposing vulnerabilities in U.S. research institutions, has reignited calls to curb Chinese infiltration and protect the nation’s food supply.

“This case is a sobering reminder that the Chinese Communist Party continues to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate our institutions and target our food supply, an act that could cripple our economy and endanger American lives,”

FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital.

Jian, a post-doctoral researcher funded partly by the People’s Republic of China, and Liu allegedly smuggled the fungus, a “potential agroterrorism weapon,” over two years, with Liu instructing Jian via WeChat to conceal it.

“Teacher Liang’s seeds must be placed well,” Liu wrote, according to an FBI affidavit. Jian replied, “Where to put it?”

The fungus, which devastates crops and poses health risks to humans and livestock, was found in baggies seized by Border Patrol.

China expert Gordon Chang sees a broader threat. “The only way to stop this is to sever relations with China,” he told Fox News Digital.

“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 called for drastic measures, saying, “This couple should be sent to Guantánamo. This was an attack on the United States at a time when China thought it was at war with us.”

He tied the incident to China’s 2019 “People’s War” decree, a strategy of protracted conflict, and cited past incidents like unsolicited Chinese seeds mailed to Americans in 2020 as attempts to plant invasive species.

National security expert Michael Sobolik framed it starkly: “The Chinese Communist Party wants to kill Americans,” he told Fox News Digital.

“Look at what they’ve done with smuggling fentanyl precursors into our country to kill Americans, look at the effects of them failing to stop the spread of COVID-19. Dead Americans.”

Sobolik criticized universities’ reliance on Chinese funding, saying, “American higher education is addicted to the Chinese Communist Party. They’re vectors for intelligence gathering.”

Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif., echoed this, warning:

“They are studying some very sensitive things in our universities. We really had to vet them well. We cannot bring everybody in to these universities and help build CCP’s military.”

The University of Michigan distanced itself, stating, “As one of the world’s leading public research institutions, the University of Michigan is dedicated to advancing knowledge.”

A Chinese embassy official, Liu Pengyu, claimed ignorance of the case, saying, “I don’t know the specific situation, but the Chinese government has always required overseas Chinese citizens to abide by local laws.”

As Jian and Liu await trial, the arrests spotlight a growing fear: China’s covert operations could unleash a biological catastrophe, and America’s open doors may be its own undoing.

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