Did China Just Violate the Biological Warfare Convention?

In early June, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested two nationals of the People’s Republic of China for conspiracy to smuggle a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the United States, which scientific literature classifies as an agroterrorism weapon. The evidence suggests that Yunqing Jian, 33 and Zunyong Liu, 34 acted fraudulently, intentionally attempting to conceal the importation of the fungus into the United States. A criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Michigan alleges that Jian and Liu are members of the Communist Party of China. It further alleges that Jian received funding from the Chinese government for her work on the pathogen in China. Liu is Jian’s boyfriend, and allegedly also works on the same pathogen at a Chinese university.​