California Mayor Abruptly Resigns After Being Charged With Acting as a Covert Foreign Agent for China

A California mayor abruptly resigned this week after federal prosecutors charged her with acting as a covert foreign agent for China.

Eileen Wang, who was elected mayor of the Los Angeles suburb Arcadia, resigned on Monday, May 11. She agreed to plead guilty to one felony count, and the charge carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government,” Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said, per the DOJ’s press release. “Let this serve as a clear warning: Individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice.”

In her plea agreement, prosecutors said Wang, 58, and an associate, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, used propaganda to promote the interests of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This included ties to U.S. News Center, a website which officials said acted as a platform that claimed to serve Southern California’s Chinese American community.

The DOJ said Wang and Sun were directed by Chinese government officials to publish pro-China messaging on the website and followed through.

According to prosecutors, Wang was sent pre-written articles by a Chinese government official via WeChat in June 2021, including one that claimed, “There is no genocide in Xinjiang.”

Authorities say she quickly published it on her website and sent the link back in the chat, with the official responding, “So fast, thank you everyone.”