Public opinion on the smuggling of Fusarium Graminearum by Chinese nationals into the US is largely negative, with dominant concerns about national security, agricultural safety, and potential acts of agro-terrorism or warfare. Many view the incident as part of a broader pattern of hostile actions by China, drawing parallels to previous pandemics and expressing distrust towards both US and Chinese governmental actions. Skepticism towards media coverage and criticism of exaggerated reactions coexist with calls for stricter biosecurity measures. The discourse is marked by fear, suspicion, humor, and geopolitically framed debates.

US Government

Chinese Government

here is the press release from the justice department

[https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/chinese-nationals-charged-conspiracy-and-smuggling-dangerous-biological-pathogen-us](https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/chinese-nationals-charged-conspiracy-and-smuggling-dangerous-biological-pathogen-us)

Biological samples should certainly be transported according to protocol, especially if they are contagious pathogens. he should have had proper material transfer agreements and documentation and followed all safety and regulatory protocols imposed by governments, universities involved, and grants he was funded by.



its quite strange that the press release states that the boyfriend intended to research f garminearum in a lab where his girlfriend worked. one does not typically get access to their spouses lab space.

if both are who i think they are, they both openly research the f garminearum in china as well as the US and i believe they are both postdocs at umich.

[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=06iZ5bEAAAAJ&amp;hl=en](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=06iZ5bEAAAAJ&amp;hl=en)

[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7g3uMkUAAAAJ&amp;hl=en](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7g3uMkUAAAAJ&amp;hl=en)

Zunyong Lius profile shows an affiliation with a chinese university. in some of their recent publications, they are affiliated with the chinese university, umich, or texas A&amp;M. They have publications researching f garminearum while affiliated with texas a&amp;m.

zunyong seems to have a linkedin profile stating they are a postdoc at umich and they can be seen at the umich website in 2022 here:

[https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mpmi/outreach-resource/](https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mpmi/outreach-resource/)

in summary, from what i can peice together, both seem to be legitimate postdocs/research assosiates at umich who have both openly researched f garminearum both in china, and in the US.

If the justice departments claims are true, zunyong seriously fucked up in transporting samples in a way that arent compliant with all necessary regulations.

if the justice departments claims are true, they seriously fucked up by lying about it.

however, on the surface, it would not seem to me that it was an attempt at bioterrorism. i would speculate they already had access to various strains of the pathogen within the states as well.

SelarDorr

I hate that headline because nowhere in the article does it imply it was an terrorism attempt

&gt; The couple was charged with multiple counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling goods into the country and making false statements to investigators, the complaint says.

This seems more like the details around Kseniiya Petrova’s bringing in frog embryos in admittedly an incorrect manner, and then being slapped with a severe punishment.


https://apnews.com/article/immigration-russia-frog-embryo-harvard-0a409edae29bd98ce4fd4cdb6c6a0685

Zen1

Sounds like a couple of scientists used poor judgement and then the racist rubes at ICE used the situation to drum up anti immigrant, anti-China sentiment.

Coondiggety

My money is on samples that were wild type or knock outs that would speed up the work to understand how to combat the fungus.

Stupid post-docs being too focused on research and not a year's worth of red tape. No question they should follow the red tape, but a story that started in 2024 is not the biggest bioterrorism event of the decade. 

Anyone remember 2020 when thousands received unknown seeds from China and they just planted them?  That's how you introduce plant pathogen, not in sandwich bags in your backpack.

BarsOfSanio

Thing is, this fungus is native to north America. There's no proof they weren't conducting legitimate research with this. Could be a variety of reasons why they might be interested in samples of the same fungus from other parts of the globe...

GoHamInHogHeaven

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I read that the lab does not have authorization to work on something like this. Which leads me to believe there could a potential of it being used as a agro-terrorism. That said, weighing in how our government is currently ran, I’m not sure how to take this info in. 

Also, we have this fungus in the US already, with this being a different strain. So maybe it was research to get ahead of what might come down the road w/ crop destruction from climate change. There’s a lot of factors to consider, which I don’t think we’ll get all the information. Especially since Loco Taco and China are in the middle of a pissing contest.

Thanks to everyone posting up links for everyone to ingest more of what’s going on!!

Crazycook99

Time to ramp up Anti-Chinese sentiment with nothing burgers because China is advancing faster than the U.S. is failing. This is truly pathetic, everyone knows the biggest meddler in U.S. affairs is not China or Russia, it’s Israel.

MrTubalcain

Gives of 'common side effects' vibes xD

Anyone doesn't know the series should watch, it's really good

Creisel

I mean I used to take my sample vials of methane, nitrogen oxides, hydrochloric acid, etc on a bus or even train when I was doing my PhD as I had no car to get between labs. I wouldn’t do that on an airplane though easier to ship it. Good luck to them bet they are feeling the heat.

Onion-Fart

I wish we wouldn’t post Clickbait titles on here. Where exactly is there any indication that this was terrorism?

Traveledfarwestward

Fusarium is already in the United States. In fact, the US gov tried to use it on the War On Drugs to destroy cannabis crops. Dont believe me? Look it up.

ex_zach_tly

Large-Average9768

My wife did her PhD on this fungus. It is used to make the Quorn meat substitute. Seems to being portrayed as something close to botulinum here which is a bit nuts

gremlin7500

And there's absolutely no way that Covid escaped a Chinese lab, no way bro, they got protocols, and always tell the truth.

III00Z102BO

I’m sorry to say this but if you want to do science, it’s time to get out of the US asap. 

ASAP.

Leiahnah

This is bonkers without more context. We have *Fusarium graminearum* in the US. We grow it in class for demonstration for teaching plant pathology. They describe it like it's a superweapon that would lead to disaster if it ever got unleashed here. 

**That article "found" on one of their phones and only mentioned by name isn't about agri-terror warfare at all, it's a completely normal article about plants fighting pathogens that uses the word warfare. [Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982218304123). They literally only mentioned it because it sounds scary. This single thing should give you a sense of how the facts are being presented in the worst light possible.**

&gt;Messages between the two in 2024 suggest that Jian was already tending to *Fusarium graminearum* at the campus lab before Liu was caught at the Detroit airport, the FBI said



And messages on my computer would also suggest that I was "tending to" *Fusarium graminearum* last semester for class, to show students... a strain that's from the same state I live in. It's a really common species to work with.


&gt;they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme


The scheme was probably to...research the fungus?

USDA APHIS does have rules for importing and exporting cultures, but it happens all the time and cultures go in and out constantly to people who have the right permits and facilities (flow hoods to contain them, etc). It makes a lot more sense that they were being stupid with cultures because it's a huge pain to do permits and stuff the "right way" and takes so long especially with the state of the USDA right now (I know from constant experience) and way too many people get lazy with it or skirt it. But now's a really bad time to do that, especially as a foreign national.


Fear mongering. Sucks for these young researchers though, who could have easily been under a lot of pressure to get the right cultures for the right results.



Edit: to be clear, I don't think it's good to skirt permits and I don't do it myself, I'm just being realistic. It happens a lot.

DSG_Mycoscopic

The real story is that the US put out a blatant piece of propaganda in an attempt to embarrass and pressure China, and this news outlet published it without fact checking or any journalism. 
Thank you for explaining, those of you in research. 
I'm embarrassed of my government

Onedayyouwillthankme

Their true crime was being Chinese. This is just an excuse to get a headline. Absolutely disgusting behavior from the government and the media.

Lig-Benny

To give a bit of context:

I work in a mycology lab. We are located in the EU and cooperate with a few labs in other EU countries. That often includes shipping fungal cultures over borders.

The correct route is utterly complicated and bureaucratic - even for non-pathogenic fungi. Thus, most often, we just have someone drive to the other lab. We had previous PhD students take the sample in luggage by train. 

So, absolutely nothing suspicious here, especially for something so widely used as Fusarium sp and especially if the scientists previously did research on the fungus.

Knufia_petricola

Fusarium wilt is a common plant pathogen. It's rather unfortunate these folks are being strung up as an example over what amounts to playing with dirt.

Grass-no-Gr

despite the utter stupidity of these people , esp in today's outrageous political climate, this is clearly government scare mongering china + warfare + fungus to support an already existing campaign of discrimination &amp; fear

lwb52

So... More xenophobic Chump administration horse shit.

BoB_the_TacocaT

Pretty obvious they’ll be going to prison due to our current administration.

kjk050798

The CIA is in the wrong here and they should be ashamed (they won't be).

This is a nothingburger with a side of vomitoxin.

Neanderthal_In_Space

This is so wild to me on so many fronts.

But gotta say, calling someone "aliens" when your last name is "Gorgon" really stands out.

Girl_Problem

ConcentrateSea2505

Trump administration really wants to start WWIII huh?

Just_Juggernaut3232

&gt;A disease of wheat, barley, ...  

Not the beer ingredients!  

&gt;Causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects  

Are we talking about the fungus or the beer?

little_brown_bat

Agora_Black_Flag

This is probably a political prosecution and not related to this fungus at all. It sounds like they were just studying normal plant pathology.

spooky_spaghetties

Why would anyone commit biological warfare or terrorism at a national scale?

Blowback would inevitably happen.

Jazzlike_Strength561

NegativeSemicolon

Fusarium graminearum is a “select agent” right?  It  is considered an organism of specific concern to US national security because its targeted release could have a devastating effect on food security.  It isn’t a quarantine issue of keeping it out of the country, as has been pointed out it is here already, it is a matter of making sure that it is controlled.  Bacillus anthracis is the same.
This isn’t ignoring an APHIS permit, to possess  a select agent requires vetting and Inspection by Homeland Security and FBI.  Bringing it in to the country requires not just a permit from APHIS, but coordination from the Department of Commerce and permission from the Department of State.  It’s not a couple of cultures in your backpack. 
Yes, it’s a huge bureaucratic hassle. It’s meant to be.


.

Beginning-Medium708

Can someone explain what is the purpose of growing this and researching it over and over because it sounds like it’s already been done and so what is the research for? If they are innocent why are they doing this research? If they are not what is the purpose of the research. And if it’s ok why did they hide it and say they didn’t know what it was. I understand this can easily be a politicized but without including opinions can one of you experts explain the good the bad and the ugly of this. Thanks!

nvan22

Is incompetence going to start WW3?  Or are super intelligent AI overlords going to take away our dangerous toys? 
Inquiring minds want to know!

Fishtoart

Unless it was something worse that they had, and this is a cover up so people think “it’s only fungi, how bad could it be”

ILikeCoffeeNTrees

Did someone leak the Interstellar prequel script?

Koenigss15

**Reminder**: Please be civil and stay on topic. Due to a higher than usual number of rule breaking comments, maximum filtering is on, which means *some* comments may not show up until they're manually approved by a moderator.

Anti-Owl

I think we need to hear the defense’s response or at least an analysis by a third party expert.

Appropriate-Claim385

Seems like if it was the chinese govt and not just scientists being scientists, they would not have gotten caught. Like you wouldn't risk the scientists you need during smuggling. You would have multiple others do the smuggling through various ways.

Reasonable_Today7248

A passenger smuggling back a plant from another country can put our food supply at risk.

This is why TSA doesn’t allow soil or any kind or plants that aren’t bare root.

But.  People do this alllll the time.  I know several people who love to share they brought back plants from Central America or the Phillipines and just roll my eyes.

No_Shopping_573

They're postdocs at a US university doing research on the genetics a ~~Bacterium~~ fungi that is already in the US. This is a non-story, propaganda used to justify xenophobia and the slashing of funding for international students.

nyan-the-nwah

This is extremely concerning and serious and I hope it will be treated as such

HappyAnimalCracker

When I read this I wondered what the other side’s argument is. I worked with a Chinese national who was doing an internship at a large IT services company here in the U.S. and he would propose the most unethical solutions to problems that it made jaws drop, and I absolutely believe to this day he would do something to sabotage a domestic company, however, is that the case here? It feels like maybe there is more to the story. I reserve the right to be wrong, but something feels off.

bluebellbetty

That’s quite a crazy story!

Thank you for sharing!

elziion

hallgeo777

[deleted]

Yikes!!
United States Attorney Jerome F Gorgon Jr described the allegations as of the "gravest national security concerns".

"These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a 'potential agroterrorism weapon' into in the [sic] heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme."

Head00andShoulders

So they can just come in and commit biological warfare at any time, huh? Meaning anyone anywhere, not selectively picking out Chinese people. But this is absolutely terrifying. Terrifying. We need  more and better biosecurity.

Gammagammahey

LIFE IN PRISON... and Televised to deter even more fucking morons. .. 


*NO QUESTIONS ASKED!*

YourDadThinksImCool_

When China says that the virus "is natural and always existed"

They said the same thing about Coronavirus before it was made into a weapon.

Miao_Yin8964

Didn't they also bring in plastic rice back in 2014-17 in here?

ILoseNothingButTime

Disclaimer: This image and texts are originally from Hashem Al-Ghaili. Full credit to them. If sharing is not okay, I will take this down.

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/ScienceNaturePage

For more similar content, follow and like their social media page.

Mindless_Sundae2526

Cool_Caregiver9811

Possible din pala tong gawin sa tin lalo na't kung mageengage si china ng long term war with us.

tanaldaion

And Chinese Nationals are allowed into other countries because... why?

DangItsColdHere

Knowing Chinese it’s definitely A and there was also a bag of 腊肉 in the same suitcase.

richitikitavi

The Torygraph is only slightly better than the Daily Mail.  Was there any non-rag paper that went with that headline?

njred87

The house literally passed a billion dollar bill to spread anti-China propaganda. H.R.1157. The vague description says it’s just a bill that “authorizes activities to counter the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and China’s government”. But that’s just vague doublespeak as usual from bill language. It can just be used to promote any kind of narrative that “counters malign influence.” Lol. 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1157

Americans act like every country except their’s has propaganda. There’s a reason a million Americans walk around thinking China is some dystopian nightmare where everyone’s starving and our government wants it that way.

cMeeber

The USA is understandably sensitive about dangerous pathogens coming out of China 

Born-Requirement2128

We actually had a Chinese scientist couple steal anthrax and other highly dangerous virus samples from top security Canadian biolab where she worked a few years ago...and they disappeared with it to China.   So yeah there's reason to be ons high alert!

meridian_smith

I'm also an academic and I turned down a fellow position in D.C. to avoid the drama. I am Asian Australian, not Chinese, but I suspect people in the US can't tell the difference. It's a shame that educational institutions are being slowly dismantled for standing up to Trump. Take some history lessons from the failure of Mao's cultural revolution and the Khmer Rouge - persecution of your best and brightest is the surest path to a century of poverty.

Sykunno

I mean, the headlines went right to 'Chinese Terrorists' despite no evidence that it was to be used as a weapon or any type of malicious activity was planned. 

In the US, we are going to get this type of narrative more often than not. Keep the people focused on a common enemy to distract from the disasters happening within. It's the exact same playbook you see in, funny enough, China.

wanliu

I have no problems with criticism of China or any country so long as it’s based on some level of reality.

Where I start to roll my eyes is when Joe Blow from middle of nowhere Idaho brings up that his Chinese made Wal-Mart TV is actually a spying device reporting back his Netflix viewing habits directly to Xi Jinping so Communism can destroy freedom and America.

pyroblastftw

Should a dangerous substances be transferred internationally in a plastic bag?

Ok-Equivalent2088

This is such a stupid take....
This feels like a bot/ ai copy paste prompt

Y'all are over looking the fact if they were really going to "study" that fungus. There's proper procedures and safety guidelines to travel or move that fungus....

I don't care what side you stand on the whole China vs The States but traveling with that fungus in a Ziploc bag and in your travel bag is BEYOND stupid and screams I'm up to something.

Asanti_20

Of course it was A, but in today’s climate, they’re really fucking stupid to try it 

shchemprof

Sucks. But China has been doing the same thing to the US for years.

I used to teach at an international in Suzhou and they had a TV in the library that would show pics of the current headlines around the world. It was always a story about some positive Chinese news such as China lands a rover on the moon, followed by horrific images from the US such as the Floyd protests with the corresponding headline. Rinse and repeat. It's a microcosm of the bigger picture because that's also what you got from the Chinese CCP controlled media.

Sea_Opening6341

I am by no means defending the US, but are you serious with this post? Chinese scientists are caught in the act of espionage in other countries around the world regularly. There are a couple good examples in the comments. 

What these guys did was fucked by any standards. Sorry but not xenophobia

mattiesab

The US will definitely exaggerate when they have a chance,but it’s on them as they should have known better.

No_Pension9902

…says someone in China who routinely observes the opposite by their own government and says nothing, because they don’t see it as a problem. Probably an wumao who has been sewing discontent online and now sees it might backfire on them. Hmmmm…

walkawayJ

You should see the headlines in China about Japan and the US 🤣

InsufferableMollusk

How about fear mongering about US and Japan in China? Thats also a thing as well.

Available_Ad9766

It’s weird that you’re focusing on America and its Chinese bad narrative by linking a British news source. I guess, “they all look the same” goes both ways. 

Also weird you were decrying the propaganda and histrionics of the US media then ended with how this is like the Reichstag fire. 

If you google this incident the only organization that seems to use the word terrorist is Fox News and the other organizations don’t call them terrorists but call the fungus a “potential agro terrorism weapon”

Graham_Whellington

Remind me which country sparked a global pandemic and refused to acknowledge its role? This is as much a fault of Chinese Customs letting them fly out as it is these researchers trying to smuggle in biological materials.

No, the coverage is not "fear mongering" so much as it is exaggeration of intent. What these researchers did was fucking insane by any metric, and worse it was premeditated.  The fact they sought to deceive/lie to US Customs, and planned this since 2022, calls into question the legitimacy of any research purposes.  After all, if you've been planning to transport something for *three fucking years* you could have followed up on the proper permits well ahead of time if this material was that vital to their research and was somehow different than the $400 fungus for sale at ATCC.

Bottom line is they fucked up and should get hit with the book to the full extent possible. Will there be assholes in the comments who are racist/xenophobic?  Sure, but the US Government charges do not include conspiracy to commit agroterrorism, instead they are:  visa fraud, smuggling goods, false statements, and conspiracy.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/chinese-nationals-charged-conspiracy-and-smuggling-dangerous-biological-pathogen-us

SonyScientist

Are non Chinese in china allowed as much access to freely roam around china, buy property, work at national security sensitive companies etc , as Chinese citizens are allowed to in the states?
Seems like the push for multiculturalism and open borders is always one directional

pingdork

Yeah, it's fine to criticize the CCP's actions when it's warranted but the fearmongering against random Chinese people and the linking of them to the CCP itself is insane and completely irresponsible, it's all built into an environment rife with consent-manufacturing. And I should note that the CCP as an organization is absolutely massive and it's possible to be a member of it or work under it without actually being a government official.

I remember a similar thing in Britain where a youtuber successfully provoked a member of a Chinese TV crew into being belligerent towards him, then posted it as "entitled CCP TV crew yelling at me for standing up for British laws" or some shit like that and as expected the media latched on to that narrative and the racists ate it up. There were only a few people reasonable enough to point out that:

A. The guy was the provocateur, not the Chinese crew.

B. The crew probably didn't understand the laws anyway and it would've been easy to explain it to them without shouting "tHiS iS nOt cHiNa, wE hAvE FrEe ExPrEsSiOn hErE iN tHe uK" and being weirdly sexist about Chinese women.

C. The language barrier would've factored into the incident as well.

And they were almost all being shat on and called CCP apologists for standing up against an obvious racist fearmongering narrative.

Fit-Historian6156

xtrachedar

Cebuanolearner

Fearmongering in general is out of control in the U.S. 

Stuff like the recent obsession with book banning, in particular, makes me believe that many of my compatriots are irrationally afraid of many things. As with the CCP, attempted proscriptions of speech and thought are signs of a deep insecurity.

Widespreaddd

We’ll get on that right after China stops making silly claims about Taiwan

Dangling-Participle1

Shipping Fusarium graminearum, a fungus, requires a permit from the USDA for moving live plant pests, especially when cross-border transport is involved.  



Simple google search says otherwise. Try google, its better than bidu

jenphilip155

COVID me once, shame on you. COVID me twice? Wuhan virus?

DisposableUser01

背景：中国人  
你罗列的这些都不是不经申报往任何一个国家带生物制品的借口。世界大部分国家的海关连土壤都是严格禁止携带的，更何况精制的真菌孢子。

没有了基本道德和常识，掌握科学技术只会给人类带来危害。今天他敢往美国带孢子，明天他会往中国带什么你有没有想过?

个人意见，这种人就要按最高量刑牢底坐穿(即使没有川普，这事基本也十年起步了)。知道风险，懂得规则，还要为个人利益去挑战规则，就当如此。

**Qualifications : China Citizen**

What you listed are by no means excuses for bringing biological materials into any country without declaration. Most customs authorities around the world strictly prohibit even soil, let alone refined fungal spores.

Without basic morality and common sense, possessing scientific knowledge only brings harm to humanity. If he dares to bring spores into the U.S. today, have you thought about what he might bring into China tomorrow?

In my personal opinion, such individuals should receive the maximum sentence and spend the rest of their life in prison. Knowing the risks, understanding the rules, yet still choosing to challenge them for personal gain—this is exactly the kind of behavior that deserves the harshest punishment.

Electronic-Pick-1481

So many FBI and Taiwanese bots in here. 😂

Suspicious_Worry_834

Things are so out of control and are spun so fast that people will have forgotten by next week when the US threatens to invade Scotland/Bhutan/Saturn over some grievance. Just keep out of the US for the next three years.

its1968okwar

Not really related to the topic, but publishing in Nature and publishing in Nature communication are not the same thing.

MHC_seallover

I knew it. I even commented this and got downvoted on account of tiny bit of unbiased reasoning. It made zero sense to me that two grad students would maliciously do this. Immediately thought this is yet again another crock of doodoo coming from the admin. People, the MSM and local-level news that's owned by the same owners of the MSM are compromised.

emteedub

Straight-Extreme-966

Bro, this is r China, not r the_donald. We already know.

MetroidvaniaListsGuy

“Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, making false statements and visa fraud for allegedly bringing the fungus Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. Jian, 33, was booked in a Detroit federal court. Liu, 34, is thought to be in China.”

“Researchers often bring foreign plants, animals and even strains of fungi to the U.S. to study them, but they must file certain permits before moving anything across state or national borders”

“it’s unclear why the Chinese researchers might have wanted to bring that strain of Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. and why they didn’t fill out the proper paperwork to do so.”

https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/06/04/what-is-fusarium-graminearum-the-fungus-us-authorities-say-was-smuggled-in-from-china/

If they are a legitimate scientist then why did they not apply any paperwork?

They need to have O-1A and O-1B visa https://bashyamglobal.com/workers/researchers-and-scientists/#:~:text=There%20are%20two%20types%20of,education%2C%20business%2C%20or%20athletics. And have to apply their paperwork to the government.

Outright smuggling is going to be suspicious for people to check on your backpack 

“Detroit Metropolitan Airport with samples of the fungus hidden in his backpack and, after initially denying knowledge of the plant material, admitted he planned to use it for research at a University of Michigan lab where his girlfriend, Yunqing Jian”

He later denied and said he is studying in the university where his girlfriend worked at. Seems also suspicious. Security would ask you a lot of questions and if you deny any of their questions, they would ask another question to speak the answer out. If you keep on denying it, they would be suspicious of you.

“However, federal prosecutors state that the USDA requires a permit (PPQ 526) for the importation of Fusarium graminearum, and Jian and Liu never applied for or were issued one”

“prohibiting anyone from importing any organism that “directly or indirectly injures, causes damage to, or causes disease in a plant or plant product” without first applying for and obtaining a permit from the USDA, according to the complaint in the case”

(From: https://www.yahoo.com/news/fusarium-graminearum-fungus-2-chinese-220247609.html)

They do need permits to do this study.

“USDA requires a permit for the importation of Fusarium graminearum. According to records maintained by the USDA, the Chinese researchers now charged never applied for, nor were issued, a permit to import the pathogen, the complaint said.”

It’s better be safe than sorry. If they didn’t apply the paperwork, bringing into the US even when it’s in the US ground is just dangerous without a permit

awesomemc1

The problem is more that they are doing this in the whole world and even with legit credentials, the CCP is known to send spies everywhere. Xi hinself said that they needed agents in foreign universities...
China acts and speaks  like an ennemy country, these are the logical consequences.

RCesther0

To be honest, Chinese people don't really care.

Unlike the Jews, who didn't have their own country back then and were driven out everywhere,  

the Chinese have their own country. If it's not safe in the US, just come back.  

If you insist on staying in the US, there's nothing we can do about it.  

China has developed a powerful military since its founding, precisely for this moment.  

As for Americans being anti-Chinese, that's their business. I don't want to comment too much on it, lest I be labelled a ‘supporter of the CCP.’

Moreover, the United States is not the first to exclude Asians. It has excluded Chinese and Japanese people before, so even if it were to exclude Chinese people again one day, I wouldn't find it surprising.  

A characteristic of the United States is that it will apologise for excluding Chinese people, and it has indeed apologised in the past. However, this does not mean that the United States will not exclude Chinese people again.

SnooStories8432

My reading is that the US is about to do something terrible and tragic in a massive scale to China, and they need to turn the public opinion against that country, by any means necessary. They need to build a momentum where its actions, no matter how horrible, will be seen justifiable or cause indifference, at least. Think massive casualties in an unimaginable, biblical magnitude, because that's the only way the US can keep its position and save itself from something equally terrible, which is being torn apart the moment it loses its grip on the world.

No-Muscle-3318

WasteAppointment7833

can you point me to one article published in china where foreign co-authors are cited ?

there's been scandal after scandal with china , wuxi the largest scientific instrument manufacturer had 100% of all its products basically with trojan horses that transmitted proprietary information back to china.

it's no secret what's going on, there's really no reason to defend any of it , and a citation from TASS-reuters is nothing more than the russian perspective on this topic.

AI_Tonic

With the Trmp admin politicising the FBI, this does seem like a random bit of spite at first glance. However, reading the more detailed news reports there does appear to be something in this. 

Ohh.. and it appears a few more western news outlets have been put on the naughty list. Sky news UK gone now. So ability to get info on this story in China without the required tool is pretty much heading towards near zero.

ActivityOk9255

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Recent events have spotlighted the threat of agro-terrorism as two Chinese nationals were charged with smuggling a dangerous fungus, Fusarium graminearum, into the US. This fungus poses threats to food security and economic impacts.

US-China Tensions Over Fusarium Graminearum

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