After ‘agroterror’ fungus is seized in Detroit, lawmaker says Michigan has best plan to blunt CCP influence
EXCLUSIVE: After a dangerous fungus was intercepted in Detroit, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall spoke out to Fox News Digital about the legislature's efforts to blunt Chinese influence and espionage.
The fungus, Fusarium graminearum, is considered capable of "agroterrorism" and was allegedly smuggled into the country by two Chinese nationals studying at the University of Michigan.
Hall, R-Kalamazoo, said he and colleagues have sounded the alarm for months about Beijing’s efforts and that the incident shows Michigan and other states need to be vigilant and prepared.
"As speaker, I led our Foreign Influence Protection package through the State House to block CCP operatives from buying Michigan farmland, infiltrating our universities and accessing our most sensitive data," he said.
"Our plan would have tackled this head-on and prevented Chinese government interference with our food supply and our universities."
He called the bill package the strongest collection of protections against CCP interference nationwide but said it is being held up by Senate Democrats and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Requests for comment from Whitmer and Senate President Pro Tempore Jeremy Moss, D-Bloomfield, were not immediately returned.
"Their inaction means our farmland, our military bases and our universities are still at risk," Hall lamented while praising President Donald Trump for taking action to protect U.S. land and people from Chinese "schemes."
"Too many professors and administrators have let Beijing use our campuses as pawns. We will expose every CCP operation, root out every vulnerability and mobilize every state resource to secure Michigan — farmland, universities and beyond."
While a Chinese embassy official claimed earlier this week to have no knowledge of the case involving two Chinese students allegedly attempting to bring a fungus to the University of Michigan, experts said the pathogen was capable of causing billions in damage to U.S. grain supplies.
The case drew some parallels to the coronavirus pandemic, which sparked global debate over whether a viral pathogen may have emerged from a lab and infected the world.
A Michigan House Republican Communications Office official said too many federal and state oversight bodies can be infiltrated by CCP sympathizers, and they have allowed foreign agents to run rampant on college campuses with CCP-backed research grants on dangerous things like Fusarium graminearum.
While state officials like Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs have vetoed attempts to block Chinese-linked land purchases, Michigan House leaders have said security breaches like the Fusarium graminearum incident prove the issue cannot go unchecked.
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Republicans similarly criticized Whitmer for touting "corporate subsidy" deals with Chinese EV battery companies and a proposed Gotion vehicle plant in Big Rapids, Michigan.
In 2024, House Chinese Communist Party Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, also a Michigan Republican, said he uncovered "indisputable evidence" that Gotion High Tech was connected to supply chains involving forced labor in China.
"The American people expect companies in the U.S. to avoid all involvement with the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign of genocide," Moolenaar said.
The company, reportedly tied to both China and German-owned Volkswagen, denied the committee’s findings, calling them "baseless and absolutely false."
In October, five Chinese nationals studying in the Great Lakes State in partnership with a Chinese school were charged with espionage for what was an alleged spying operation outside Michigan National Guard Camp Grayling.
A Michigan House source said the package would also block schools from accepting foreign grants if found to be promoting any anti-American agenda and strip foreign data-mining apps from government devices through provisions from Reps. Rachelle Smit, R-Allegan; Nancy Jenkins-Arno, R-Lenawee; and William Bruck, R-Erie.
Michigan lawmakers are also trying to address another perceived threat from China: the use of drones and other technology linked to Chinese companies that are being employed by certain law enforcement agencies and municipal governments.