Mayor Eileen Wang of Arcadia, California, declined to comment on her former fiancé’s conviction at the first City Council meeting since his sentencing, despite previously acknowledging their relationship.
Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, was sentenced on February 10 to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China without notifying the U.S. attorney general, as required by law. His guilty plea was entered and sentence imposed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Prosecutors alleged that from at least 2022, when Wang said she became a Democrat, to January 2024, Sun “knowingly acted within the United States as an agent of the PRC and officials of its government — without notifying the Attorney General,” a violation of federal law designed to expose foreign influence operations.
Sun worked as the campaign advisor to a candidate identified in court filings as “Individual 1,” who was elected to a Southern California city council seat in November 2022. While the individual was not named in court papers, Sun was listed as a campaign treasurer for Wang, then an Arcadia City Council candidate, on a 2022 campaign statement filing.
During a December 2022 Arcadia City Council meeting, Wang publicly praised Sun while referring to him as her fiancé. “To my fiancé, Mike Sun, who walked streets with me every single day, who is a real leader of me,” she said at the time.
After Sun was indicted and charged, Wang sought to distance herself from that earlier characterization. In September 2025, she said, “No. 1, he’s not my fiancé. Whoever wants to say he’s my former fiancé, please prove it.”
Sun’s conviction stems from what prosecutors describe as extensive covert activity on behalf of the Chinese government, including the dissemination of pro-Beijing propaganda and surveillance of individuals and groups that China viewed as adversarial. According to federal prosecutors, his duties included efforts to counter pro-Taiwan independence advocacy and influence public opinion through a purported local news site.
According to the Department of Justice, Sun “closely surveilled the then-President of Taiwan during her April 2023 visit to Southern California, reporting directly to PRC officials on her movements.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg condemned Sun’s activities, saying he “received and executed taskings from Chinese government officials, distorted our public discourse by disseminating Chinese propaganda, and surveilled groups in the United States that China viewed as threatening its interests as part of a campaign of intimidation.”
Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division also released a statement at the time of sentencing: “When Americans vote for elected officials, they expect them to represent the interests of their constituents — not those of a foreign adversary like the Chinese government,” he said. “By exploiting his position as a campaign advisor, Yaoning Sun attempted to undermine our political processes and democratic institutions for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party.”
At the council meeting following Sun’s sentencing, Wang declined to address questions about his conviction or their prior relationship. Wang has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the case, and prosecutors have not charged her with any offense. However, her prior public references to Sun — and subsequent denials of that relationship — have drawn scrutiny in local and national media coverage.
Federal prosecutions of unregistered foreign agents are part of broader U.S. counterintelligence efforts to stem covert influence operations on domestic political processes. Criminal filings in this case made clear that individuals acting at the direction of foreign governments are required by law to register with the U.S. Attorney General, a requirement Sun failed to meet.
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