AsAm mayor resigns after admitting she was a spy for China

Once considered a 'rising star:' Eileen Wang resigns as mayor of Arcata, California.

The political landscape of the Chinese Americans of California's San Gabriel Valley was rocked Monday as Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, abruptly resigned, admitting she had been operating as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government.

In a stunning plea agreement unsealed in federal court, Wang confessed to a felony count of acting as an illegal foreign agent — a move that brings a swift and ignominious end to her short tenure as mayor. 

According to prosecutors, from 2020 to 2022, Wang was essentially moonlightng for Beijing, using a website called "U.S. News Center" to push pro-China propaganda directly into the feeds of Chinese-speaking residents in the San Gabriel Valley.

The evidence presented was as damning as it was cinematic. Text messages showed Wang reporting viewership metrics back to Chinese officials and editing articles at their behest. In one exchange that will likely haunt her legacy, she responded to a superior's praise by texting, "Thank you leader."

This isn't an isolated incident for the "City of Homes." Wang’s downfall is the latest domino to fall in a sprawling federal investigation that has already snagged her former fiancé, Yaoning "Mike" Sun, and high-level operative John Chen.

Sun was the bridge between Wang and Chen, a convicted operative who worked to cultivate Wang as a "new political star" for the Peoples Republican of China. Sun is currently serving a four-year prison sentence.

Wang, who just took the mayor's gavel this past April and was considered a rising star among local politicians, now faces up to 10 years in federal prison. Her resignation is effective immediately, leaving Arcadia to pick up the pieces of a trust shattered by international intrigue.

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