There are many spies among the Chinese students in our western universities. Look at the number of them who returned to the US and Canada to resume classes in the second semester after break. They all went back to China to get debriefed and many of them brought the corona virus back with them this time. They may have been deliberately infected with it, unbeknownst to them, who knows?
Chinese students really have no choice if the Chinese Communist party sees them go into a field of work where they’re interested in stealing information. They will offer payment, and when this doesn’t work they think nothing of threatening their families back home.