(TibetanReview.net, May12’26) – Eileen Wang, an ethnic Chinese mayor of Arcadia, a wealthy suburban city in the US city of Los Angeles, California, has resigned on May 11 and agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of China, reported Reuters May 11, citing the US Department of Justice. The 58-year-old politician is stated to be expected to plead guilty in a federal court in Los Angeles in the near future.
Wang is stated to have agreed to plead guilty to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government from late 2020 until 2022, the US Department of Justice has said May 11.
Wang has admitted that she did not notify the US government that she was acting on behalf of China while promoting pro-Beijing propaganda.
Wang was stated to have operated a website called the US News Center, which published content supportive of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) while purporting to provide news for Chinese Americans.
She was stated to have run the site with Yaoning “Mike” Sun, a Californian man and formerly her fiance, who was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government in Oct 2025, US prosecutors have said.
Wang is said to faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Her lawyers, Brian A Sun and Jason Liang, have said Wang wished to apologise for “mistakes she has made in her personal life”.
Sun and Liang have said in a statement, “It is important to note, however, that the conduct underlying the information and the agreement with the government (of China) relates solely to Ms. Wang’s personal life – ie, a media platform that she once operated with someone whom she believed to be her fiancé – and not to her conduct as an elected public official.”
Expressing deep concern over Wang’s activities, US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A Eisenberg has issued a statement, saying, “Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent.”
“It is deeply concerning that someone who previously received and executed directives from PRC government officials is now in a position of public trust at all, but particularly so because that relationship with that foreign government had never been disclosed.”
Wang was elected in Nov 2022 to the Arcadia City Council, a five-person governing body from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis.
Born in China, Wang came to Southern California, which is over 50% Asian, about three decades ago, drawn by stellar reviews of the school system here and her desire for the best education for her two sons.