archive.is
www.nytimes.com
...roughly 277,000 Chinese students who arrive in the United States each year to advance their studies.
Each of these represents an opportunity diverted from an American student
The new case is distinct from most past national security cases related to Chinese students. Ms. Jian and Mr. Liu are accused not of taking material out of the United States, but of bringing it in. And charging papers specifically cite Ms. Jian's written pledge of loyalty to the Communist Chinese Party.
Typically they steal products of American-funded research and are ideologically opposed to American interests
When a customs agent at Detroit Metropolitan Airport found the baggies last summer, Mr. Liu at first denied they were his but eventually admitted to smuggling them so that he could conduct research on it at the University of Michigan laboratory where Ms. Jian worked, according to a criminal complaint filed against the pair.
They lie
"Liu stated that, while he was in the United States, he would have free access to the laboratory at the University of Michigan on some days, and that other days his girlfriend would give him access to the laboratory to conduct his research," the complaint states.
They steal American lab time
The complaint also offers evidence of an earlier instance in which the pair may have smuggled material into the United States. Messages exchanged between Ms. Jian and Mr. Liu indicate she may have successfully hidden material in her shoe on a 2022 trip, the complaint said. Other messages cited in the complaint suggest that in early 2024, Ms. Jian arranged for another associate in China to mail a book with a plastic baggie hidden inside
They operate an ongoing conspiracy counter to American interests
The complaint said Ms. Jian's cellphone also contained a work assessment form she had signed in January 2024 related to her research at a Chinese university. The form consisted of a pledge to remain loyal to China and to "support the leadership of the Communist Party of China, resolutely implement the party's educational guidelines and policies, love education, care for students, unite colleagues, love the motherland and care about international affairs," according to the criminal complaint.
Ms. Jian and Mr. Liu are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements and visa fraud.
