China RAIDED US COVID Data – On Biden’s Watch

Gloved hand pipetting liquid into a tray

American ingenuity under attack—again—as a Chinese national stands accused of masterminding the theft of our nation’s hard-won COVID-19 research, all while our own government’s priorities seem hopelessly out of whack.

At a Glance

Chinese hacker Xu Zewei, allegedly directed by Beijing’s state security, arrested for stealing U.S. COVID-19 research and hacking over 60,000 American entities
U.S. universities targeted during the pandemic, losing sensitive medical research to foreign espionage
Justice Department unseals indictment charging Xu and an accomplice; extradition proceedings underway
Case reignites debate over Chinese cyber aggression and the Biden administration’s ability—or willingness—to protect American innovation

Beijing’s Digital Thieves Strike American Science

While our government was busy telling us to trust the science, it appears China was busy stealing it. Federal authorities have charged Xu Zewei, a 33-year-old Chinese national, with orchestrating a brazen cyber raid on American universities and organizations at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal? To siphon off priceless vaccine and treatment research—work that American taxpayers funded and that could save millions of lives. All this happened while politicians in Washington seemed more focused on virtue signaling and pork-barrel spending than defending the intellectual lifeblood of this country.

Xu wasn’t acting alone or freelancing for some shadowy hacker collective. The Department of Justice says he worked under the direct orders of China’s Ministry of State Security, specifically the Shanghai State Security Bureau. The hacking group—known as Hafnium or Silk Typhoon—has quite the résumé, having targeted everything from government agencies to private companies, always with the singular goal of boosting China’s global standing at America’s expense. Apparently, exporting fentanyl wasn’t enough; now they want our medical breakthroughs too.

The Pandemic as a Cybercrime Opportunity—And a Test of Resolve

The timeline reads like a thriller, if only the consequences weren’t so real. In February 2020, just as the world’s scientists were racing to contain a deadly pandemic, Xu and his crew allegedly launched targeted cyberattacks on American universities. Not content with these high-value heists, they escalated their campaign in March 2021 by exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server—effectively breaking into over 60,000 U.S. entities, including small businesses and research institutions. The FBI’s Cyber Division estimates that more than 12,700 organizations were ultimately victimized by this state-sponsored digital rampage.

What’s truly galling: These attacks unfolded as American families, small business owners, and frontline workers were struggling to stay afloat during lockdowns and economic ruin. Instead of focusing on border security or protecting American jobs, the Biden administration’s priorities were elsewhere, leaving our research institutions exposed to foreign predators. Is it any wonder China keeps testing our defenses when it gets away with so much, so often, with so little consequence?

A Wake-Up Call for American Innovation—And an Indictment of Weak Governance

On July 3, 2025, Xu Zewei landed in Milan, Italy, and was promptly arrested by Italian law enforcement with assistance from the FBI. Days later, the DOJ unsealed a nine-count indictment, including charges of wire fraud, conspiracy, unauthorized computer access, and aggravated identity theft. Xu’s alleged accomplice, Zhang Yu, remains at large—a reminder that for every hacker we catch, there are many more waiting in the wings, emboldened by weak responses and endless bureaucratic dithering.

The real victims here aren’t just the universities or the researchers whose life’s work was stolen. It’s every American family whose tax dollars funded that research. It’s every innovator who wonders if the next big breakthrough will end up in a Beijing laboratory before it ever reaches the American market. And let’s be honest, it’s every citizen who’s fed up with a federal government seemingly more interested in subsidizing illegal aliens and printing money than defending the very foundation of our economy: American innovation and intellectual property.