California mayor charged with acting as Chinese agent
Eileen Wang speaks in Arcadia, California, U.S., in this handout image released on April 16, 2025. Wang, who assumed the position of Mayor of Arcadia in February 2026, resigned from both her office and Arcadia's city council on May 11, 2026 following a federal charge of acting as a foreign agent of China.
Photo courtesy of City of Arcadia - City Hall via Facebook
A woman who served as mayor of a California city has been charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, the Department of Justice said Monday.
Eileen Wang, 58, the mayor of Arcadia, a city just north of Los Angeles with a population of about 50,000, has agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge, the department said in a statement.
Wang resigned from her post as mayor on Monday, according to the Arcadia City Council's website.
Acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison in the United States.
The Justice Department said Wang and an accomplice, Yaoning Sun, promoted pro-Chinese propaganda through a website they operated called US News Center serving the local Chinese American community.
"Wang and Sun received and executed directives from (Chinese) government officials to post (pro-Chinese) content on the website," it said.
Sun pleaded guilty in 2025 to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and is serving a four-year prison sentence.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing this week and meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.