FBI worried Chinese spies were trying to steal Covid research from University of Texas

With US-China relations at an all-time low due to a range of issues, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has contacted the University of Texas over the allegations of Chinese Consulate in Houston seeking to obtain the University's research on COVID-19, South China Morning Post reported.

Reportedly, the University of Texas informed the faculty and research staff on Monday that it was contacted by FBI for the investigation. 

FBI agents would contact university researchers about the alleged role of the consulate and "efforts by the Chinese government to illegally procure research from American universities, including coronavirus vaccine research", according to the email, cited by South China Morning Post.

"We want to make you aware of an ongoing and evolving national situation that may affect some members of our research community," the email read.

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Texas Congressman Michael McCaul in a recent interview had alleged that Chinese Consulate of Houston, which the US has ordered to close, is the epicentre of Beijing's espionage in terms of stealing the bio-medical research.

"I can tell you its really the epicentre of China's espionage in terms of stealing our bio-medical research. We had three scientists at M.D Anderson that were fired due to allegations of espionage," McCaul had told Fox News.

The Congressman said the Chinese are actively trying to steal the vaccine for COVID-19, the virus which originated from China.

"We also have vaccine research going on at the Texas Medical Centre. We know that they are actively trying to steal that vaccine so that they can claim to the world they have saved them from the very virus they are responsible for," said McCaul.

The investigation by FBI in the alleged attempt of research theft comes after the US administration closed the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas after the Houston fire department found the consulate officials burning its own records and documents in the consulate premises. China in retaliation closed one of the US consulates on its soil, the one in Chengdu.

The US-China relations which were in turmoil since the last year due to trade war soured further after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. To add to it, Chinese aggression in the Indo Pacific waters by claiming sovereignty over the South China sea plus its violent aggression in Eastern Ladakh along the LAC with India has made many who share a border with China via land or sea, turn against China. Besides the gross human rights violation of China by imposing the draconian national security law in Hong Kong threatening the autonomy of the city, and the genocide of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province has invited harsh reactions and criticisms from the international fora and brought the world's attention to the China malpractices.

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