The mayor of Arcadia, California, Eileen Wang, has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of China and has resigned from her post. Wang, 58, was charged with promoting pro-China propaganda in the US at the behest of Chinese government officials, alongside her then-fiancé Yaoning 'Mike' Sun, who is serving a four-year jail term.
Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in November 2022 and was expected to plead guilty in a federal court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks. The felony count comes with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
According to her plea agreement, Wang and Sun worked at the direction and control of Chinese government officials to promote Beijing's interests by promoting pro-PRC propaganda in the United States from late 2020 through 2022.
Wang operated US News Center, a website that purported to be a news source for the local Chinese American community, and received and executed directives from Chinese government officials to post pro-China content.
She admitted in her plea agreement that she did not notify the Attorney General that she was acting in the United States as an agent of China and did not disclose on her website that some of its content had been posted at the direction of members of the Chinese government.
