Former Los Angeles suburb mayor admits to acting as illegal agent for China
John Power
Eileen Wang, former mayor of Arcadia, California, has pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of China between 2020 and 2022. She ran a pro-Beijing website and failed to register as a foreign agent, the U.S. Justice Department said.
The former mayor of an affluent Los Angeles suburb has admitted to acting as an illegal agent for China, U.S. authorities announced on January 21.
Eileen Wang, former mayor of Arcadia, agreed to plead guilty to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government between late 2020 and 2022, the U.S. Justice Department said. Wang acknowledged that she failed to notify the U.S. government that she was acting on behalf of China while promoting pro-Beijing content.
According to the Justice Department, Wang, 58, operated a website called the US News Center, which posted content supporting the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the guise of providing news to the Chinese-American community. Wang ran the website with Yaoning Sun, a California man who was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government in October 2025, prosecutors said.
Wang's activities included republishing an essay written by the PRC that denied allegations that the Chinese government was committing genocide against Uyghurs in the far western Xinjiang region.
Wang resigned as mayor on January 21, according to a statement on the Arcadia city website. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Wang's attorneys, Brian A. Sun and Jason Liang, said their client wants to apologize for her personal life mistakes. However, they stressed that the charges relate to the media platform Wang operated with a man she believed to be her fiancé, not her conduct as an elected official. They added, "Her love and dedication to the Arcadia community remain unchanged."
John A. Eisenberg, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security, expressed deep concern about Wang's activities. He said, "Those who are elected to public office in this country should act only for the people of the United States they represent. It is deeply concerning that someone who received and carried out directives from PRC government officials held a position of public trust, especially when the relationship with that foreign government was never disclosed."
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment. Wang's prosecution comes as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping prepare to meet in Beijing on January 22, with talks expected to focus on the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, trade, and Taiwan.
