California political operative charged as illegal Chinese agent

A campaign official with a local California politician was charged with acting covertly as an illegal agent of communist China working to influence U.S. policy toward Taiwan in Beijing’s favor, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Sun Yaoning, 64, of Chino Hills, Calif., was charged in a criminal complaint with helping the politician win a 2022 race for seat on the council of a southern California city and reporting on the support to Beijing officials.

The local politician identified as “Individual 1” appears to be Arcadia, California, councilwoman Eileen Wang.

Ms  Wang’s 2022 California state political candidate form listed her campaign treasurer as Sun Yaoning.

Ms. Wang did not immediately respond to phone and email requests for comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment on whether Ms. Wang was Individual 1.

Mr. Sun was arrested by FBI agents on Thursday morning and is in federal custody. He is scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles on Friday. 

The partially redacted FBI complaint stated that Mr. Sun, also known as Mike Sun, also was charged with conspiracy for working with Chen Jun, who pleaded guilty in July to operating as an illegal Chinese agent. Chen was sentenced to 20 months in prison Nov 19.

“In 2022 and early 2023, Chen was in active communication with [Chinese] government officials regarding local U.S. politicians the PRC could ‘influence,’ particularly regarding Taiwan, and specifically communicated with them regarding Individual 1’s election,” the complaint stated. “In his conversations with PRC government officials, Chen referred to Sun and Individual 1 as being part of a ‘basic team dedicated for us.’”

“The conduct alleged in this complaint is deeply concerning – the defendant is charged with acting on behalf of the People’s Republic of China to influence our political system,” said Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. “We cannot permit hostile foreign powers to meddle in the governance of our country.”

Akil Davis, assistant FBI director in charge in Los Angeles said: “This case highlights the breadth of the PRC’s relentless intelligence and malign influence activities targeting the United States.”

The complaint said the two men were working as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department operations.

Both Chen and Mr. Sun were identified as former members of the People’s Liberation Army and the FBI obtained photographs of them in PLA uniforms, the complaint said.

U.S. officials have identified Beijing’s multi-billion dollar influence operations in the United States and around the world as emanating from the United Front Work Department, a Communist Party Central Committee organ that functions as both an intelligence collection service and influence operations force.

The complaint said Chen was in close communication with Mr. Sun, who was instructed to provide reports on the election campaign of the local politician that could be sent to the United Front and get to what he said was the “Big Boss’s desk.”

The FBI said the Big Boss referred to a high-level Chinese Communist Party official, and that Mr. Sun in a report asked for $80,000 from the Chinese government to support pro-China activities in the United States.

A lawyer for Mr. Sun could not be reached for comment.

According to a report by the congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, the United Front Work Département coordinates Beijing’s strategy to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition, the complaint said.

Mr. Sun also was listed on his California driver’s license as living in the same residence as the local politician. Together they ran a news outlet called U.S. News Center.

The complaint said that in 2019 Chen met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and was photographed shaking hands with him.

Chen also was linked to what the Justice Department calls “transnational repression” activities against the anti-communist Buddhist group Falun Gong.

He pleaded guilty in July to acting as an illegal foreign agent and bribing an IRS official.

In jail prior to sentencing, Chen disclosed to a cellmate that he was a Chinese spy and worked for a special unit within the Communist Party called the 610 Office that was in charge of targeting Falun Gong practitioners, the complaint said.

Apparent cell phone messages obtained by the FBI reveal that after the politician was elected in 2022, Chen sent a text that said, “You are doing a good job, I hope you can continue the good work, make Chinese people proud.”

On Nov. 29, 2022, Chen texted Mr. Sun saying the Chinese government wanted to promote the California politician in “mainstream media” but not Chinese state media.

Individual 1 was identified in a text by Sun as born in the “late 70s” in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, who emigrated to the United States in 1995.

Another text from Chen to a Chinese government official stated: “I told Individual 1, will support [him/her] to do [his/her] job as Chinese American elected official well, go against Taiwanese independence…”

The elected politician was also tasked by Chen with providing information to the Chinese government on Falun Gong activities in the unidentified California city and also to contact the Chinese consul general in Los Angeles.

The case is the latest in a string of Chinese government criminal activities in the United States.

On Wednesday, Chen Jinping, a Chinese American citizen, pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to conspiracy to act as an illegal foreign agent for running an overseas Chinese “police station” in New York City to monitor local Chinese nationals.

Chen, who is not related to Chen Jun, was arrested on April 23 and charged with acting as a foreign agent and for obstructing justice for deleting messages from officials of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

The Chinese police station was shut down in 2022.

• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.