My Take | How hapless Chinese scientists became ‘agroterrorists’ in the US
Experts say the fungus Fusarium graminearum is more of a pest than ‘a dangerous biological pathogen’, as FBI director Kash Patel has claimed
Its name sounds forbidding – Fusarium graminearum – though most of us would have no idea what it is. But if the bosses at the FBI and the US Department of Justice made a big show of announcing the arrests of Chinese nationals charged with trying to smuggle samples into the United States in a suspected act of agroterrorism, you would be scared too.
One of the three suspects is even a card-carrying Chinese communist. Case closed. Here’s what Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, wrote in a long post on social media.
“The FBI arrested a Chinese national within the United States who allegedly smuggled a dangerous biological pathogen into the country,” he wrote. “The individual, Yunqing Jian, is alleged to have smuggled a dangerous fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which is an agroterrorism agent, into the US to research at the University of Michigan, where she works.”
It gets worse: the woman is a communist!
“Evidence also indicates Jian had expressed loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and had received funding from the Chinese government for similar work on this pathogen in China,” Patel continued. “Jian’s boyfriend, Zunyong Liu – also charged in the complaint – works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen.
“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.”