With the recent guilty plea of Eileen Wang, an elected city council member in Arcadia, CA, we are seeing the continued unraveling of 30 years of Chinese influence operations targeting the United States at the local level.
Bits and pieces have surfaced before—overseas police stations in New York, United Front work on diaspora communities, talent-spotting through community media, and quiet cultivation of local officials. The recent guilty pleas and sentencing documents in the cases of Eileen Wang, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, and John Chen pull those fragments into a coherent operational picture of Chinese operations. Court records from the Central District of California and Southern District of New York document a sustained PRC-directed network operating in Southern California since at least the mid-1990s.
China’s influence operations
The infrastructure combined propaganda, transnational repression, local political insertion, and attempts to subvert U.S. government processes. None of the principals registered under 18 U.S.C. § 951 or the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
1. Eileen Wang – Elected official
Eileen Wang operated at the visible edge of the network. From late 2020 through 2022, Wang and Sun ran the “U.S. News Center,” a website presented as a local news source for the Chinese American community in Arcadia. They received and executed directives from PRC officials via WeChat, posting pre-written propaganda on Xinjiang, forced labor, Taiwan, and other Beijing priorities. In one documented instance, Wang posted an article minutes after receiving it from a PRC official and received praise for speed and reach. Internal communications described her as part of a “team dedicated” to PRC interests. With Sun’s support as campaign advisor and treasurer, Wang won election to the Arcadia City Council in November 2022. The PRC handlers celebrated her as a “New Political Star.” Post-election travel to China and meetings with senior officials followed. At the time of her resignation from the city council, she was the Mayor, a position held in rotation by council members. Wang agreed to plead guilty in May 2026 to acting as an illegal agent of the PRC and resigned her position. The statutory maximum is 10 years.
2. Yaoning Sun – The operational bridge
Yaoning “Mike” Sun served as the long-term operational bridge. A former People’s Liberation Army soldier, Sun coordinated with Chen for decades and reported successes directly to PRC contacts. His 2024 indictment and subsequent plea documents detail overt acts including a September 2022 meeting in Tianjin with PRC government officials, sharing profiles of California politicians, and requesting $80,000 to fund pro-PRC activities. Sun provided real-time updates on Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s April 2023 visit, sending photographs of protesters and seeking approval for website content. He worked as Wang’s campaign advisor and helped orchestrate her 2022 election victory. Sun pleaded guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent. On February 9, 2026, he was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison. Sentencing memoranda describe him as Chen’s “right-hand man in the United States for decades.” As of May 14, 2026, Sun is appealing his sentence (substantially more than previously received by Chen).
John Chen – 30 year architect
John Chen (a/k/a Chen Jun) functioned as the architect. Indicted in the Southern District of New York in 2023, he coordinated with PRC officials directing operations against Falun Gong practitioners. In May 2023, Chen and co-defendant Lin Feng met an undercover officer posing as an IRS agent in Newburgh, NY. Chen paid a $1,000 cash bribe as an initial installment and promised substantially more to advance a defective whistleblower complaint aimed at revoking the tax-exempt status of a 501(c)(3) organization run by Falun Gong practitioners. Chen had entered the United States carrying approximately $10,400 in cash. Intercepted Title III communications discussed receiving “direction” from a PRC handler via encrypted application, deleting instructions, and sounding alarms if the meeting did not proceed as planned. Chen pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November 2024 to 20 months in federal prison.
30 years of influence operations
These cases extend patterns previously documented. The Chen-Sun-Wang network demonstrates maturation from the earlier access operations involving Christine Fang (also known as Fang Fang) between 2011 and 2015. Fang, operating primarily out of the Bay Area in California, cultivated relationships with up-and-coming politicians, including then-Dublin City Council member Eric Swalwell. She assisted with fundraising, placed interns, and built networks through events and personal connections. The operation extended beyond California: Fang engaged in romantic or sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, including a documented sexual encounter with an Ohio mayor in a vehicle under FBI surveillance. She left the United States in 2015 as federal scrutiny intensified.
Ignorance is not bliss
Well-meaning local and state officials unwittingly are being assessed and potentially developed by the PRC intelligence apparatus. Municipal, county and state offices lack the resources and authorities that federal agencies apply as a matter of course. The record shows the People’s Republic of China conducts sustained targeting of locally elected officials across the United States. Individual actions such as invitations to travel to China, requests to facilitate discussions aligned with PRC talking points, and offers of investment or ownership opportunities in ethnic media or community projects can each be entirely innocent and normal on their own. Yet, taken together and in context, they form core elements of Beijing’s long-established United Front influence playbook. Awareness is key. The targeting has been confirmed in open court records. Recognizing the operational methodology remains the viable first-line defense. The FBI provides that awareness today and must continue to do so. Greater awareness by local governments and timely coordination with federal partners remain necessary.
As President Trump and President Xi conclude their summit this week, these prosecutions, which began and concluded well before the current diplomatic meetings, underscore that PRC influence operations at the local level continue on their own timeline. The documents are public. The pattern is documented across three decades. How many more such networks remain active in the United States? And how many locally elected officials understand that they sit on the PRC’s targeting grid?
