By Christine Sellers
Arcadia, California, Mayor Eileen Wang was federally charged Tuesday with acting as an illegal foreign agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release. Her work on behalf of China “included an essay that appeared in the Los Angeles Times denying that a genocide had taken place in Xinjiang, where China is accused of persecuting the Uyghur population.” “There, as many as three million members of ethnic minority groups have been imprisoned in grim concentration camps. Over one million of the imprisoned people are Uyghurs, the largest minority group in China’s Xinjiang region. Torture is widespread in the concentration camps, and thousands have died in them. Uyghur cemeteries have been destroyed in a campaign some have called cultural genocide.”
Wang, 58, faces one count of acting in the U.S. as an illegal agent of a foreign government, the DOJ stated in the same press release. She has agreed to plead guilty to the charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Wang also resigned Monday from her role as mayor, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council — the five-person governing body from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis — in November 2022, according to the DOJ. She is accused of working with Yaoning “Mike” Sun to promote the PRC’s interests in the U.S. from late 2020 through 2022, according to her plea agreement. Wang and Sun operated U.S. News Center, a website that claimed to be a news source for the local Chinese American community. The pair allegedly posted pro-PRC content on the website at the directives of the PRC. (RELATED: Remains Of US Soldier Declared Missing During African Training Operation Recovered As Search Continues For Partner)
Wang also communicated with a PRC official via WeChat, sharing and editing an essay the official had written for The Los Angeles Times on her website. Additionally, in November 2021, Wang communicated with John Chen, a high-ranking member of the PRC’s intelligence, and asked him to post a news article from her website.
“This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send,” Wang wrote, according to the same plea agreement.
Wang admitted that she was in the U.S. at the time she engaged in these actions, and that she did not disclose on her website that some of its content had been posted following directives from the PRC, according to the plea agreement.
Wang released a statement through her attorneys apologizing for her actions, according to The AP.
“She apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life. Her love and devotion for the Arcadia community have not changed and did not waver,” the statement read.
Sun pleaded guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and is serving a four-year prison sentence, the DOJ said.
Wang was expected to appear in court Monday, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Arcadia, the city where Wang served as mayor, has a 60% Asian population, according to the outlet.
