FOIA Lawsuit Seeks Full Accounting of University of Michigan’s Connections to Chinese Government

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the US Department of Education (ED) yesterday, seeking records on the University of Michigan’s connections to China.

Freedom Of Information Act Lawsuit Seeks Access To Exchanges Between the University Of Michigan And China

Washington-based Judicial Watch,  a non-profit, educational foundation, filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia seeking access to public records between January 1, 2020, and the present, including:

• All reports, analyses, forms, or similar records documenting, reporting, or analyzing any funding received by the University of Michigan from the Chinese government and its ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party.
• All records between any official or employee of the ED and any official or employee of the Department of Justice regarding the University of Michigan’s Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory and Working Group.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the American public deserves a full accounting and added, “We are helping to keep an eye on tax-supported universities with connections to hostile foreign governments.”

The lawsuit follows the charges laid against two Chinese nationals — Yunqing Jian, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Michigan’s Molecular Plant Microbe Interaction Laboratory, and Zunyong Liu, her partner, in June 2025. The pair were charged with conspiring to smuggle a fungus considered to be a potential agroterrorism agent into the US.

Liu was stopped at Detroit Metro Airport in 2024 with concealed fungal samples and was later deported. Jian later pleaded guilty to smuggling and making false statements and was sentenced to time served. Four other Chinese nationals were separately charged with smuggling biological materials.

A few months after five Chinese students in a joint program were charged with lying to federal investigators regarding suspicious activities outside a remote military site, the University of Michigan announced in June 2025 that it was ending its partnership with a prominent Chinese university,

Judicial Watch has requested information on the lab from officials, including:

• Secretary McMahon
• Chief of Staff Oglesby
• White House Liaison Warzoha
• International Affairs Office Director Hong
• General Counsel Wheeler
• The Deputy General Counsel for Postsecondary Education
• Office of Postsecondary Education Assistant Secretary Bergeron
• International and Foreign Language Education Senior Director Gibbs