Ex-Mayoral Aide Sentenced for Running CCP Propaganda Operation in California

A man tied to a California mayor and the Chinese Communist Party will now spend four years in federal prison after being convicted for acting as an unregistered foreign agent spreading CCP propaganda and influencing U.S. politics from within.

Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, was sentenced Monday to 48 months in prison by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner for covertly operating on behalf of China’s communist regime from 2022 to 2024. His mission? Influence American elections, suppress Chinese dissidents on U.S. soil, and push Beijing’s interests deep into Southern California politics.

Sun wasn’t just a rogue operative he was the campaign treasurer and former fiancé of Democrat Eileen Wang, now the mayor of Arcadia, a city just outside Los Angeles. He worked as her chief campaign advisor and even bragged in reports to Beijing that he “orchestrated and organized [his] team to win the election” for her.

According to the DOJ sentencing memo, Sun was reporting directly to Chinese intelligence officials, targeting pro-Taiwan groups and Falun Gong practitioners, and surveilling then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during her 2023 U.S. visit.

This wasn’t a one-off scheme. It was a coordinated infiltration campaign with serious national security implications.

“His conduct represents a brazen violation of our national sovereignty,” said Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg. “This sentence reflects our commitment to prosecuting those who would extend the authoritarian reach of the Chinese government on U.S. soil.”

While Wang has not been charged, court filings and investigative reports from the Los Angeles Times and Pasadena Star-News confirm she was the unnamed “Individual 1” in DOJ documents described by Sun as a “new political star” he helped place in office.

The public deserves to know:

• Why hasn’t Wang been further investigated?

• What did she know about Sun’s CCP ties?

• How deep does this CCP influence operation go in California politics?

Though her city role is technically nonpartisan, Wang previously switched from Republican to Democrat, citing housing policies. Her political evolution apparently came with donors tied to the Chinese government, facilitated by none other than Sun himself.

Sun also ran a website targeting Chinese-American voters, publishing propaganda at the direction of Chinese consular officials, according to federal prosecutors.

It’s not just a California problem. The House Select Committee on China issued a warning:

“This case is what we’ve warned for years the Chinese Communist Party is actively targeting U.S. political systems, all the way down to local elections.”

Sun’s handler? A high-ranking CCP intelligence officer named John Chen, who also pled guilty last year to foreign agent charges for repressing Falun Gong practitioners on U.S. soil.

Sun admitted in a report to Chinese officials that he had been in the U.S. since 1996 for the purpose of resisting “hostile forces” undermining U.S.-China relations clear code for pro-freedom voices critical of Beijing.

Even after Sun’s arrest, Wang insisted they had only “broken up the fiancé relationship,” adding cryptically, “we keep the friendship.”

That friendship is now under renewed scrutiny, and it raises the same chilling question the Select Committee raised how many other Sun-style operatives are working to reshape American politics quietly, locally, and at the CCP’s command?

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