California Mayor Resigns After Admitting to Being Chinese Government Agent

May 13, 2026

Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang resigned on May 12, 2026, after admitting she will plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government from at least 2020 through 2022. The charge, filed on April 1, 2026, carries up to 10 years in prison. Wang became mayor in February 2026 after being elected to the city council in November 2022. She worked with Yaoning 'Mike' Sun, her former campaign adviser and fiancé, to run U.S. News Center and post pro-PRC content on orders from Chinese officials.

Eileen Wang federal charges

▪The charge against Eileen Wang was filed on April 1, 2026.
▪Eileen Wang, 58, of Arcadia, California, has been charged with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
▪Eileen Wang admitted to acting as a foreign agent from at least 2020 through 2022.
▪Court filings related to Eileen Wang's case, including the plea agreement, were unsealed on May 12, 2026.
▪The charge against Eileen Wang is punishable with up to 10 years in prison.

Wang's political background

▪Eileen Wang became mayor of Arcadia in February 2026.
▪About 59% of Arcadia's 54,000 population is Asian, while over 42% is ethnically Chinese.
▪Eileen Wang resigned from the Arcadia City Council on May 12, 2026.
▪Eileen Wang was elected in November 2022 to the five-member Arcadia City Council.

Chinese propaganda website operation

▪Eileen Wang and Yaoning 'Mike' Sun received and executed directives from Chinese government officials to post and circulate pro-PRC content on the U.S. News Center website.
▪Eileen Wang worked with Yaoning 'Mike' Sun to run a website called U.S. News Center that purported to be a news source for Chinese-Americans.
▪Eileen Wang did not notify the Attorney General that she was acting in the United States as an agent of China.
▪Eileen Wang did not disclose that content posted on the U.S. News Center website was based on orders from Chinese authorities.

Coordination with Chinese officials

▪In August 2021, Eileen Wang addressed a Chinese official's request for edits to an article on Xinjiang and sent the official a screenshot of the number of views the article had amassed.
▪In November 2021, Eileen Wang asked John Chen to share an article from the U.S. News Center website, saying 'This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send.'
▪In June 2021, after a Chinese government official contacted Eileen Wang via WeChat about a pre-written essay on Xinjiang, Wang posted the essay on the U.S. News Center website.
▪Yaoning 'Mike' Sun was sentenced to four years in federal prison in 2026 for acting as a covert agent for China.

Chinese espionage in America

▪John Chen was sentenced in November 2024 to 20 months in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government in the United States and bribing a tax authority agent.
▪The House Committee on Homeland Security issued a report in 2025 that found more than 60 cases of Chinese espionage or repression in the United States since 2021.
▪In April 2026, the White House accused China of stealing on an 'industrial scale' the intellectual property of U.S. artificial intelligence labs.