Another Chinese national has been arrested and accused of nefarious actions against U.S. interests in favor of Red China. Sun Yaoning (64), who resides in Chino Hills, California, has been charged with seeking to influence a political campaign in support of China and against Taiwan.

Sun had worked for a local politician in a successful election campaign in 2022. Sun was listed as Councilwoman Eileen Wang’s campaign treasurer. Sun was not working alone; he is connected to another Chinese national, Chen Jun, who was arrested by the FBI in July and charged with operating as an illegal foreign agent.

According to the FBI, “In 2022 and early 2023, Chen was in active communication with [Chinese] government officials regarding local U.S. politicians the PRC could ‘influence,’ particularly regarding Taiwan, and specifically communicated with them regarding Individual 1’s election. In his conversations with PRC government officials, Chen referred to Sun and Individual 1 as being part of a ‘basic team dedicated for us.’”

Martin Estrada, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, stated, “The conduct alleged in this complaint is deeply concerning. The defendant is charged with acting on behalf of the People’s Republic of China to influence our political system. We cannot permit hostile foreign powers to meddle in the governance of our country.” Indeed.

This past week in New York City, another Chinese national, Chen Jinping, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to operate as a foreign agent. Chen ran a secret police station in Manhattan on behalf of Beijing that targeted Chinese nationals in the U.S. “This illegal police station was not opened in the interest of public safety,” said Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, “but to further the nefarious and repressive aims of the PRC in direct violation of American sovereignty.”

There is also the fact of China buying up acres of farmland across the country that happen to be conspicuously near U.S. military bases and facilities. This is supposedly innocent, claim “fact-checking” outfits like Snopes. The reports are “misleading,” you see, as Beijing doesn’t really own all this land directly. Really? It’s enough to make one wonder if Snopes is in Beijing’s pocket.

With all the “Russia, Russia, Russia” alarms Democrats have raised since Donald Trump first won in 2016, most of which turned out to be bogus connections designed to undermine Trump, the most significant (and growing) foreign threat has been and continues to be Communist China.

If Russia is such a big threat, where are the litany of foreign influence operations and espionage agents caught working within the U.S.? Foreign agents are here, but tellingly, the vast majority just happen to be Chinese.

With this latest arrest in California, Los Angeles Assistant FBI Director Akil Davis warned, “This case highlights the breadth of the PRC’s relentless intelligence and malign influence activities targeting the United States.”

China has been caught multiple times seeking to influence American elections and political policies, all in favor of Beijing’s geopolitical aspirations, specifically regarding Taiwan.

If Beijing were to take control of Taiwan, that would present one of the greatest existential threats to American national security since the end of the Cold War. And Beijing would prefer to take over Taiwan without even firing a shot.

The fact of the matter is that China has been engaged in an aggressive spying and influence operation against the U.S. and our interests for years. This problem will not disappear if we ignore it or speak nicely about China. It has to be addressed much more aggressively. Otherwise, we’d all better start taking Mandarin lessons.