When a Michigan graduate student from China was charged in June in the smuggling of restricted agricultural materials like seeds and a potentially dangerous fungus into the United States, a federal prosecutor said her actions raised “the gravest national security concerns.”
A congressional committee chairman urged the University of Michigan, where the student did her research, to investigate its labs, and went on to accuse China of “a broader, coordinated campaign targeting universities across the country.”
But when the student, Yunqing Jian, pleaded guilty earlier this month, she said she had simply been trying to speed up her research into crop protection. The prosecution conceded that it could not prove she had ill intent, though citing the potential for “devastating harm,” it asked a judge for a two-year prison term.
The judge instead sentenced Ms. Jian to time served — five months — and allowed her to return to China.
However muted the denouement of the case, some lawmakers and foreign policy experts say it, as well as several other cases against Chinese researchers in the United States, highlight a national security threat posed by ties between American universities and institutions with Chinese scientists.
American schools and scientific institutions are being pressed to sever ties with Chinese counterparts. Congress is considering restricting these links. And weeks before Ms. Jian, 33, was charged, the federal government vowed to “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese students, though President Trump later backtracked.
More than 275,000 students from China attended school in the United States last year, second only to the number of students from India. Warnings about the potential dangers posed by some foreign students go back decades, but even some who see risks say that the focus on China has been at times cynical and political.
Ms. Jian’s lawyer spoke of “political hysteria” and prejudice against Chinese students.
In a statement after the sentencing, Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., the interim U.S. attorney in Detroit, called Ms. Jian’s conviction “a small but important measure against secret biological threats from China.”
Pathogens and parasites
Ms. Jian’s smuggling took place when she was working as a postdoctoral fellow at a University of Michigan lab, according to investigators. It came to light after a colleague and boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, flew into Detroit and was found to be transporting the fungus.
As part of her guilty plea, Ms. Jian admitted hiding seeds in her boots in a “very small” baggie before traveling to the United States from China, as well as sneaking in other material. She also admitted discussing the best way for Mr. Liu, who is believed to be in China, to smuggle in the fungus.
Both admitted lying to investigators about their actions.
There remains some debate how much danger, if any, their actions posed.
“The fungal strain did not present any appreciable danger of infestation or disease, let alone a ‘significant risk,’” Ms. Jian’s lawyer argued in a sentencing memo.
The fungus, Fusarium graminearum, can cause severe disease in wheat and other crops and can harm humans and animals, but it was not new to the United States, or even to Michigan, experts say.
Both scientists worked on research to reduce crop disease, and Ms. Jian’s colleagues and professors at the lab attested in court documents to her collegiality and valuable work contributions. They said the offenses she was charged with appeared out of character.
The Chinese Consulate in Chicago, responding to the smuggling charges against Ms. Jian, said that China required its citizens overseas “to strictly abide by local laws and regulations, including those related to entry and exit.” But it said it “firmly opposes the U.S.’s political manipulation of related cases.”
Zichen Wang, a research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank in Beijing, called the case “overblown.” Writing in his newsletter, Pekingnology, in July, he said that Ms. Jian’s failure to declare the biological materials appeared to be unethical and illegal, but not a potential bioterror threat, as the American authorities initially described it.
Miles Yu, director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington, said in an interview that extra vigilance about the activities of Chinese students and scientists was warranted. Researchers and other travelers bringing in biological materials raises concerns generally, Mr. Yu said, but he said he was particularly concerned by materials from China because of what he described as the country’s “abysmal lack of biosafety standards.”
Given the risk to the public, he said, even if a researcher is just trying to avoid a bureaucratic burden, bringing in restricted materials is a “matter of national security.”
The U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit is prosecuting several other similar cases.
Earlier this month, three Chinese researchers working in a University of Michigan lab were charged in connection with the investigation of another scientist from China arrested with the undeclared DNA of roundworms, a parasite used in research. That scientist pleaded no contest to the charges and was deported in September, prosecutors say.
“Allegedly attempting to smuggle biological materials under the guise of ‘research’ is a serious crime that threatens America’s national and agricultural security,” the U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, said in a statement announcing the new charges this month.
Politics and Bureaucracy
The lawmaker who spoke out about the Jian case, Representative John Moolenaar, Republican of Michigan, heads the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. His committee has been pressuring schools to sever ties with Chinese institutions, citing national security risks.
In January, the University of Michigan, which did not respond to a request for comment, said it would shut down a joint institute with a Chinese school after the committee “strongly encouraged” it to do so. About 10 U.S. universities have taken similar actions under pressure.
Mr. Moolenaar has also introduced a bill to deny government funding to scientists who work with anyone “affiliated with a hostile foreign entity,” prohibiting joint research, papers and advising activities.
Some academics and advocacy groups have resisted this move, arguing it would harm “the thriving research ecosystem that laid the foundation for American competitiveness and innovation.” And the congressman’s strong stance on Chinese students now seems at odds with that of the Trump administration.
Appearing to shift course, Mr. Trump, in an interview with the Fox News host Laura Ingraham, recently said that denying visas to Chinese students would put “half” of American colleges “out of business.” He says that their tuition is critical to schools and that the dangers have been overstated.
Mr. Trump now speaks of allowing 600,000 Chinese student visas, dismissing critics’ concerns. Students from many countries, he suggested, may pose security risks. “Do you think the French are better?” he asked.
Xinyun Wu and Mara Hvistendahl contributed reporting.
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
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