Investigators in the United States have accused a 64-year-old man of “acting as an illegal agent” of Beijing while serving as campaign manager for a municipal election candidate in a California city, amid mounting concern over widespread Chinese infiltration.
Mike Sun, also known as Sun Yaoning, was arrested Dec. 19 and charged with “allegedly acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) while serving as the campaign manager for a political candidate” in 2022, the Department of Justice said in a press release on the same day.
He was also charged with “conspiring” with Chen Jun, who was sentenced last month to 20 months' imprisonment for acting as an unregistered Chinese agent and bribing an IRS agent in connection with a plot to target U.S.-based practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Sun’s arrest is a single manifestation of a complex and long-running Chinese influence operation on American soil, known in Chinese government circles as ‘Project Termite," because it eats away at a structure slowly, and from the inside, pro-democracy activists and a former Chinese official told RFA Mandarin in recent interviews.
Through Project Termite the Chinese Communist Party’s outreach and influence arm, the United Front Work Department, is attempting to extend the party’s political influence far beyond the country’s physical borders.
Sun served as the campaign manager and close personal confidante for a Southern California politician who ran for a local elected office in 2022, and Sun had also discussed with Chinese government officials how Beijing could “influence” local politicians in the United States, particularly on the issue of Taiwan.
Sun had sent reports to Chinese officials, arranged meetings and requested funding as part of the bid to manipulate the politician’s views on democratic Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing despite never having been part of the People’s Republic of China.
If convicted, Sun faces up to 10 years in prison for acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, and a maximum term of five years for “conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States,” the DOJ statement said, adding that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian hinted that the charge was interference in its internal affairs.
“I don’t know the specific circumstances of the case you mentioned,” he told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Friday. “What I want to emphasize here is that China never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries.”
“Who is wantonly interfering in the internal affairs of other countries? The international community sees this clearly.”
A brief internet search by RFA Mandarin on Friday revealed that Sun has been involved with cultural and artistic exchanges between China and the United States for many years.
U.S.-based independent scholar Wu Zuolai said such operations within the scope of the United Front.
“The Chinese Communist Party takes a long-term United Front approach to influencing American politicians,” Wu said, adding that the approach dates back as far as the party’s Yan’an period (1935-1947).
“They are very experienced at it, and it’s a long-term pattern of behavior,” he said. “It’s just that the U.S. government has only now suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem.”
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Zhou Fengsuo, executive director of the New York-based group Human Rights in China, said there are many more Suns hiding in plain sight in the United States.
“There are so many people like this in California, who serve the Chinese government,” Zhou told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview. “Not enough of them have been arrested.”
Zhou said the United Front system targets anyone of Chinese descent, seeking to enlist them to the party’s cause in the United States.
“Everyone from long-term residents to overseas Chinese association members to students, investors, researchers or members of industry associations: they don’t let anyone slip through their fingers,” he said. “This is common knowledge among us.”
Zhou still remembers the time a handful of pro-democracy activists protested at an Olympic flame welcoming ceremony in California in 2008 and were attacked by supporters of Beijing.
“There were only a few of us,” he said. “We said we were American citizens and asked for police protection, but nobody paid any attention to us,” he said. “This is still happening today.”
Wu said he once met a United Front operative who boasted about how easy it was to get local congressmen to go to dinner.
“They already have a set of highly effective United Front methods, and they’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said, adding that a lot of American politicians lack the political vigilance to screen out all approaches from Beijing, which uses a plethora of routes to get to them.
“Some organizations like hometown associations, chambers of commerce and alumni associations make use of family ties,” Wu said. “Some U.S. politicians don’t think too deeply about stuff, and just keep on going to dinners and making friends.”
And while non-government groups are mostly banned in China, the government is still very good at manipulating civil society groups in a democracy like the United States, Zhou said.
“It’s very good at taking advantage of the rules of American society and the fact that NGOs are given a lot of room to complete their infiltration,” he said.
Former Inner Mongolia regional government official Du Wen said there is a huge budget for United Front operations, too.
“China’s overseas United Front infiltration is specially researched and arranged, its funding is unlimited, and it’s carried out by multiple departments, not just the United Front Work Department,” Du said. “Internal accounts suggest that United Front spending greatly outstrips military spending.”
“They are especially good at catering to people’s interests,” Du Wen said. “For example, if you like playing golf, they may find someone who plays golf to approach you, or find a professional coach to train the person they want to approach.”
And according to Wu, California, with its large population of Chinese descent, is particularly vulnerable to such infiltration and manipulation, and groups of “little pink” supporters of Beijing regularly turn up to pro-democracy protests and clash with activists, often with little attempt by local authorities to stop them.
“If democracy activists organize something, or if the Uyghurs or Tibetans hold an event, they will be suppressed and controlled, which shows us that some local authorities are very pro-China,” he said.
Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that U.S. officials make decisions that are in Beijing’s best interest, according to Zhou.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s aim is to be the engineers of the human soul,” he said. “It wants to control and destroy the United States.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Eugene Whong.