LOS ANGELES – A woman who served as mayor of a California city has been charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, the United States Department of Justice said May 11.
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 May 11, 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.
US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing this week and meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. AFP
