Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper Praises Trump DOJ for Charging Two Chinese Nationals in Potential Agroterrorism Plot

ATLANTA, GA — On Tuesday June 3, 2025, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced two Chinese Nationals with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have been charged with smuggling, conspiracy, and other charges for attempting to illegally bring a noxious fungus, Fusarium graminearum, into the United States. Fusarium is classified as a potential agroterrorism weapon and is known to cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in both humans and livestock. Additionally, Fusarium causes head blight – a disease of wheat, barley, corn, and rice that causes billions in worldwide economic losses each year. Today, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler J Harper released the following statement praising DOJ’s work. 

“Make no mistake, China represents a direct threat to the safety and security of America’s food supply, and I applaud President Trump’s Department of Justice for their outstanding work,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler J Harper. “Our staff at GDA works tirelessly to protect Georgians and our state’s food supply from all threats – whether they’re naturally occurring or from an intentional act of agroterrorism. I was proud to lead the charge to ban China from owning Georgia farmland last year because we can never allow the Chinese government to control America’s farmland and food supply.”

According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were charged after attempting to smuggle a potential agroterrorism agent into the United States via the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The complaint also alleges that Jian’s electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is further alleged that Jian’s boyfriend, Liu, works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen and that he first lied but then admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum into America.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) investigates and responds to all threats to Georgia’s food supply, whether from the introduction of a pathogen or toxin through a naturally occurring process or an act of intentional agroterrorism. Last year, GDA Law Enforcement staff participated in the FBI’s symposium on threats to agriculture which include bioterrorism and agroterrorism, and the GDA receives regular updates from federal law enforcement agencies on potential threats to our food supply. Any potential threat to Georgia’s food supply is cause for serious concern, and GDA staff work around the clock to protect Georgia consumers and families to ensure they have access to a safe, affordable, and abundant food supply. 

In recent years, China has taken aggressive steps to gain more control over American agriculture and food production. In 2014, a China-based firm controlled by the CCP, Shuanghui, paid 30% over market value to purchase Virginia-based Smithfield Foods – the world’s largest pork producer. The state-controlled Bank of China approved a Shuanghui’s $4 billion loan in a single day and highlighted the purchase in their annual report as being in line with their government’s 5-year plan to increase meat production by purchasing overseas food production companies. The Chinese government appointed the new leadership of Smithfield following the purchase, and China now effectively owns 1 of every 4 pigs in the United States. 

Equally concerning is China’s repeated, and sometimes successful, attempts to purchase American farmland located near strategic American Military installations. As of today, more than 400,000 acres of American farmland, worth upwards of $2 billion, are owned by various Chinese companies or Chinese nationals.

In 2024, after a decade of non-disclosure, beneficial ownership documents revealed that billionaire and Chinese Communist Party member Chen Tianqiao purchased almost 200,000 acres of Oregon farmland for $85 million. Also in 2024, Fufeng Group, a Chinese firm with deep ties to the CCP, purchased 300 acres of North Dakota farmland located just 12.5 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base. The United States Air Force called the project “a significant threat to national security,” and it was ultimately blocked by the Grand Forks City Council. Between 2016 and 2018, Sun Guangxin, a billionaire with extensive ties to the CCP and former member of the Chinese military, purchased 130,000 acres of farmland in Val Verde County, Texas, home to McLaughlin Air Force Base where military pilots undergo flight training. 

In 2024, Georgia banned adversarial foreign nations, like China, and their agents from purchasing Georgia farmland. Commissioner Tyler J Harper led this successful effort to protect Georgia farmland in coordination with the Georgia General Assembly.