Convicted Chinese spy tied to Southern California mayor
By Tom Wait
Click here for updates on this story
LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — A Southern California mayor refused to comment on her former fiancé and campaign staffer, who was sentenced to four years in federal prison for “acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China.”
Last week, Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang’s former fiancé, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
Wang has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the case and refused to comment on it during Arcadia’s first City Council meeting since the sentencing.
Sun pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government from at least 2022 to January 2024, when he “knowingly acted within the United States as an agent” of China, without notifying the attorney general, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Sun, 55, worked with a person referred to as “Individual 1” from 2020 through 2023 to “operate a purported news website for the local Chinese American community,” while receiving and executing directives from the PRC government to “post pro-PRC content,” the release said. He also worked as a campaign advisor for Individual 1, who was running for a city council seat in an undisclosed city. The person was elected to the city council in November 2022.
Wang commented on her relationship with Sun during a council meeting in December 2022.
“To my fiancé, Mike Sun, who walked streets with me every single day, who is a real leader of me,” Wang said.
After Sun was charged, Wang tried to distance herself from him.
“No. 1, he’s not my fiancé,” Wang said in September 2025. “Whoever wants to say he’s my former fiancé, please prove it.”
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.