PRC Agent Arrested in California: Five Key Takeaways
What the case reveals about Beijing’s tactics for influencing U.S. politics, plus a “Christmas crackdown” in Hong Kong
For my last post in 2024, I do a deep dive into the details of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence operations targeting the United States as evident from the December 17 indictment of a man in California. Also in this issue, how Hong Kong authorities are joining their mainland counterparts and engaging in a “Christmas crackdown,” with passport cancellations and new arrest warrants for exile activists. And lastly, a holiday-themed audiobook to recommend.
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Reports to the 'Big Boss’, Monthly Salaries, and Influence Peddling: Five insights from the latest arrest of a PRC agent in the United States
On December 19, police arrested Yaoning “Mike” Sun in California, charging him with acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign power, in this case China. The Department of Justice published a press release and posted a partially redacted copy of the criminal complaint that led to his arrest.
Sun is the latest in a series of PRC agents who have faced prosecution in the United States. Going through the information made public often reveals insights that might not make it into major news articles about the case. This instance is no different.
Keeping in mind that Sun is presumed innocent until proven guilty, the criminal complaint still offers samples of the evidence uncovered by U.S. law enforcement and revelations on the inner workings of CCP influence operations targeting the United States. The following are five that stood out to me.
1. No politics is too local
At the center of the charges is Sun’s relationship with “Individual 1” who was elected in 2022 to serve on the city council of a town in Southern California. Sun served as the person’s campaign manager and at one point in a communication prepared for Chinese officials bragged:
Most proudly of all, during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, I orchestrated and organized my team to win the election for [a] city council member candidate.
The complaint is careful to redact details about “Individual 1” and does not indicate this person was aware Sun was a Chinese agent. At one point Sun and his superior John Chen (more on him below) explicitly discuss not alerting “Individual 1” to their communication with officials in China.
Nevertheless, the case points to how deep down into the U.S. political system the CCP’s influence and interference efforts reach. It also serves as another reminder that much election interference happens offline, even as online disinformation tactics are a growing part of the regime’s toolbox.
2. Agents operating from coast to coast
The complaint includes numerous references to Sun’s ties to a man named John Chen, with Chen serving as a primary intermediary for Sun in his communication with Chinese officials. Chen was convicted last month for engaging in an elaborate attempted bribery scheme involving a presumed IRS official in New York (who was in fact an undercover federal agent).
The plan revolved around trying to use the agency’s whistleblower program to get the tax-exempt status revoked for a non-profit organization founded by Falun Gong practitioners. That organization turned out to be Shen Yun Performing Arts, a classical Chinese dance company that has long been a target of the CCP’s transnational censorship efforts and has recently come under more intense pressure, misleading media reporting, and violent threats. Sun’s case makes clear, however, that Chen’s activities reached further afield.
Indeed, when Chen was sentenced to only 20 months in prison in November after pleading guilty, I suspected that he may have received a relatively light sentence in exchange for offering information on others acting on behalf of Chinese security agencies in the United States. Sun’s indictment reinforces that supposition. Given Chen’s apparently more senior role vis-à-vis Sun, I would expect to see more prosecutions coming.
3. Priority targets—and parades
As Freedom House found in a 2021 report, the Chinese regime engages in the “the most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world.” That campaign aims to silence and intimidate a range of targets, including Chinese dissidents and journalists, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hong Kongers. From Sun’s indictment, however, it is evident that at least in that particular California town the two sources of dissent and alternative representations of China that most concerned his CCP minders were Taiwanese community activists and practitioners of Falun Gong.
Notably, a key source of consternation was apparently their participation in local parades, with floats displaying the Taiwanese flag, Falun Gong meditation exercise demonstrations, and dancers clad in traditional Chinese attire (the hutzpah!). In response, Chen and Sun were building up a Beijing-funded entry. Per a message prepared by Sun and cited in the complaint:
This year on July 4th, we plan to work what we have locally, under CHEN Jun’s leadership, using part our Los Angeles organization’s professional core team, to go to D.C. and train the locals there, to organize a float, and 100-person drum band, and other Chinese elements to participate in the parade. We need support.
4. A microcosm of money being spent
Some of the most illuminating aspects of the complaint are the references to the funds being offered by Chinese officials to support Chen and Sun’s activities. This money trail also strengthens the assertion that they were acting as unregistered agents of the regime. For the above parade endeavor, for example, Chen and Sun reportedly requested $80,000, while also referencing financial support for meals and conferences with local politicians and other targets for co-optation.
The largest amount noted, however, was Chen’s apparent claim to a cellmate that he was on the payroll of the “610 Office”—a CCP security agency created in 1999 to lead the anti-Falun Gong campaign—and that he was being paid a whopping $52,000 per month (over $600,000 a year). If true and assuming Chen is only one of many agents employed by Chinese security agencies, that would indicate that the Chinese government is spending tens of millions a year on just that one dimension of its foreign influence, surveillance, and intimidation operations.
5. Xi Jinping handshake, Chinese consulate ties
The CCP’s foreign influence operations are a mainstream endeavor, typically occurring with encouragement and direction from top officials and involvement of diplomatic outposts. Indeed, Chinese embassy and consular officials—including ambassadors themselves—have often been at the frontlines of harassing journalists, trying to get dissident events canceled, and pressuring Chinese students or other members of diaspora communities to silence or drown out critics. Even knowing this, it was still striking to see a photo of John Chen shaking hands with Xi Jinping himself (circa 2021) included in the complaint.
Messages reportedly exchanged between Sun and Chen were also explicit about their communication with the local Los Angeles consulate. They mention arranging a meeting with the consulate, preferably the Consul General, and including in a report to the “Big Boss” how much attention the consulate had paid to Sun (There is no indication of who the “Big Boss” is, more likely a high-ranking security official than Xi himself).
I’ve long recommended that the U.S. and other democratic governments be more vigilant in monitoring Chinese diplomat involvement in transnational repression and political influence operations. The State Department and other foreign ministries shouldn’t be afraid to call in an ambassador or consul general for a démarche if they are caught engaging in such behavior, vet incoming diplomats for offenses elsewhere before approving their accreditation, and consider more severe consequences in extreme cases, even at risk of Chinese retaliation.
Closing thoughts
Sun’s indictment highlights again the role that prohibitions on acting as an unregistered foreign agent are serving in U.S. prosecutions and resilience to foreign malign influence. Laws like the Foreign Agent Registration Act are not perfect and vague wording can create loopholes for abuse, but when applied narrowly to these types of cases, the law can serve as an important “hook” for prosecuting CCP agents and a deterrent to would-be recruits.
Lastly, the case also points to the complexities, nuances, and pitfalls of Chinese diaspora politics in the United States. Whoever “Individual 1” is, it would appear that this person was unaware his or her campaign manager was working for the CCP. And while in this case, the efforts may have a resulted in someone more favorable to Beijing’s gaining office, another prosecution in New York in 2022 centered on a PRC-linked scheme to foil the electoral ambitions of a Chinese democracy activist, U.S. military veteran, and CCP critic. More recently, although she lost her race, in New Hampshire, Cultural Revolution survivor Lily Tang Williams ran an impressive Congressional campaign.
All this serves as another reminder that like other communities, Chinese Americans are a diverse group with wide ranging political viewpoints. It is important not to presume that every ethnic Chinese candidate is a CCP stooge but also to ensure that diverse Chinese and Taiwanese American voices can be represented and have equal access to elected office.
This year’s “Christmas crackdown”: Hong Kong passport cancelations and new arrest warrants
The Chinese government is notorious for arresting or sentencing high-profile activists and dissidents during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, presumably when Western governments and foreign diplomats are out of the office or distracted. The list of past victims include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, whose 11-year prison sentence for a prodemocracy manifesto was handed down on Christmas Day 2009. Over Thanksgiving weekend in 2017, rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong was given a two-year imprisonment. The suspicious timing of their punishments reinforces the politicized nature of such prosecutions.
This year’s Christmas crackdown has not come from the mainland authorities, but rather their Hong Kong counterparts. On Christmas Eve, news emerged that the Hong Kong government had canceled the passports of seven activists and former lawmakers now in exile. Moreover, the government announced arrest warrants for another six activists and a $1 million bounty for information leading their arrests. This follows similar action taken since July 2023 against 13 others, including the seven facing passport cancellation.
Among the latest list of targets is 19-year-old Chloe Cheung, making her the youngest of the group facing this threat. Cheung, penalized for her work with the U.S.-based advocacy group Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, responded in an Instagram post:
Even in the face of a powerful enemy, I will continue to do what I believe is right. How fragile, incompetent, and cowardly does a regime have to be to believe that I, a 19-year-old, ordinary Hongkonger, can ‘endanger’ and ‘divide’ the country? How panicked are they that they have to put a million-dollar bounty on me?
Sadly, this action further reaffirms that Hong Kong’s previously high standards of rule of law are rapidly converging with the mainland’s politicized system and its calendar-based opportunism.
Holiday Listening: A Christmas Carol Audiobook
My family celebrates Hannukah but I can, nonetheless, appreciate a good Christmas story, and A Christmas Carol is one of the best. In a serendipitous accident, about a month ago, I stumbled upon the Audible audiobook of Charles Dickens’ classic, narrated by British actor Hugh Grant. It’s magnificent! Grant does a fabulous job capturing the characters’ voices, the change in Scrooge as the story unfolds, and the vivid descriptions that Dickens is so famous for.
If you have a long car ride or are simply looking for an inspiring holiday listen, give this one a go. You won’t regret it!
China’s Fifth Column Problem is Real: It Starts with the WeChat Community
China’s fifth column influence is a growing concern in many countries. One significant avenue for this influence is the WeChat community, which serves as a platform for spreading propaganda, disinformation, and fostering allegiance to Beijing’s policies.
WeChat, widely used among Chinese-speaking communities worldwide, operates as more than just a messaging app. It is a tightly controlled ecosystem where censorship and surveillance are commonplace. This allows the Chinese government to disseminate its narrative and suppress dissent, even outside its borders.
The platform’s reach enables the Chinese Communist Party to exert subtle influence on public opinion, mobilize loyalists, and monitor diaspora communities. While WeChat connects people, it also acts as a tool for spreading pro-CCP content, creating a challenge for democratic societies striving to protect freedom of speech while addressing foreign interference.
Tackling this issue requires a balanced approach. Governments must raise awareness of the risks, regulate platforms like WeChat where necessary, and encourage alternatives that uphold transparency and data privacy. Without action, the problem of fifth-column influence through platforms like WeChat will only deepen.