"The dismissal came as a pleasant surprise. We don't know the details. What we were told was there was some kind of intervention by the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. We get this phone call saying China is negotiating with the U.S. over these three students. Serious talks. These were kids studying for their Ph.D.s. The last thing you want to do is destroy their careers."
"Xu Bai and Fengfan Zhang were charged with conspiring to help another scientist who shipped packages to them from China before she arrived in 2025 for temporary lab research at the University of Michigan. A third man, Zhiyong Zhang, was charged with making false statements. Bai, Fengfan Zhang and Zhiyong Zhang were in jail for more than three months while the case was pending in federal court in Detroit."
Three Chinese scientists at the University of Michigan—Xu Bai, Fengfan Zhang, and Zhiyong Zhang—were arrested and jailed for over three months on charges related to smuggling biological materials from China. The materials turned out to be transparent worms with no dangerous properties. Despite Attorney General Pam Bondi's initial statements about national security vigilance, federal charges were suddenly dismissed on February 5 at the Justice Department's request following intervention by the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. The three scientists subsequently returned to China. Defense attorneys indicated they were surprised by the dismissal, with one noting negotiations between China and the U.S. regarding the case.
#chinese-scientists #diplomatic-intervention #charges-dismissed #national-security #us-china-relations
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