CCP biological smuggling charges renew calls for campus security reforms
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News this week that several Chinese citizens were charged with conspiring to smuggle biological material into the United States while working in a university laboratory is renewing calls to address the growing threat of foreign nationals infiltrating top institutions for nefarious reasons.
“The news coming out of Michigan was not surprising at all,” Reagan Dugan, Defending Education’s higher education project manager, told Fox News Digital in response to news that Chinese citizens were accused of importing roundworm-related biological material from China under the “guise” of research at the University of Michigan. according to officials.
“The CCP has made clear that they view the American education system as the weak link in our broader national security. From their alarming partnerships with America’s leading high schools and universities to their problematic pattern of espionage by affiliated college students, the CCP continues to test the limits of what we will let them get away with.”
Dugan acknowledged that “many foreign students who come to study in the United States have no ill intentions,” but warned that the University of Michigan has had trouble with similar situations before and that the CCP has “no qualms” about harassing Chinese national students and threatening their families to obtain sensitive information.
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Chinese citizens were charged for allegedly smuggling hazardous materials into the University of Michigan. (Getty)
Fox News Digital has reported extensively, including earlier this year, that the CCP has attempted to infiltrate research facilities at universities in the United States. bomb report A Stanford University insider outlined a “widespread intelligence gathering campaign” by the CCP at the school.
The report warns, “In short, there are Chinese spies at Stanford.”
Fox News contributor China expert Michael Pillsbury told Fox News Digital that the “real problem” is that China “spends more time than we do educating its students and even spying on its students.”
“Obviously the FBI cannot interview all 300,000 Chinese students, but Pam Bondi correctly said in the press release that we must remain vigilant for any malicious activity,” Pillsbury said.
Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who focuses on U.S.-China relations, told Fox News Digital that the news was “disturbing” and said lawmakers in Washington could and should do more to address the issue.
“Given the CCP’s recent track record, including operating a bioweapons laboratory in California, stockpiling the DNA of American citizens, and militarizing biotechnology more broadly, policymakers need to treat the threat of weaponized biotechnology with the seriousness it deserves,” Sobolik said. “Washington and Beijing are neck-and-neck when it comes to biotechnology, and the CCP wants to exploit multiple threat vectors in the U.S. homeland. It touches many departments and agencies — the War Department, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, among others — and requires a unified response from the top.”
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A police car patrols the University of Michigan campus. (University of Michigan)
At the college level, Dugan told Fox News Digital, “Fixing this starts with improving the screening process for students who come from countries whose governments want them to harm us, especially those seeking education in STEM and related fields. However, schools must recognize that this is a national security issue and work with the government on ongoing surveillance of foreign nationals working in these fields.”
Earlier this year at the University of Michigan, Fox News Digital reported Two Chinese nationals have been charged with allegedly smuggling a “dangerous biological pathogen” into the country, described by some as a “potential agricultural terrorism weapon.”
Sobolik lately published an article “This is the Chinese Communist Party. This is what they’re doing. They’re in a cold war with the United States. They want to be the most powerful nation in the world, and they want to make the world safe for their tyranny and unsafe for their freedom. And they’re coming home here for us,” he told Fox News Digital at the time under the headline “Pathogen as Politics: Defense Against Chinese Biological Warfare.”
State Armor founder Michael Lucci told Fox News Digital that there is “much to be done” to ensure college campuses can withstand the onslaught of CCP espionage operations and “protect our institutions.”
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Chinese President Xi Jinping salutes the guard of honor during the welcoming ceremony for King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on May 31, 2024. (Tingshu Wang/Pool/Getty Images)
“As long as American colleges and universities continue to leave the door open to Chinese infiltration, the CCP will benefit,” Lucci said. “American higher education is a soft target for Chinese espionage, so state legislatures across the country are investigating to find party-state ties and restrict research collaboration with Chinese citizens loyal to the CCP.”
Lucci points out legislation passed In Wisconsin last week, it was aimed at protecting higher education from Chinese espionage.
“Federal and state action is needed, and for now states are leading the way,” Lucci said. “Michigan needs to adopt a set of solutions to protect its clearly compromised higher education system.”
