California mayor accused of acting as an illegal agent for China, spreading propaganda

(KTLA) — The mayor of Arcadia, California, Eileen Wang, abruptly resigned Monday as federal prosecutors announced she had been charged with acting as a covert foreign agent for China.

Wang has agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count that carries a statutory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

According to her plea agreement, Wang, 58, and an associate, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, worked on behalf of the People’s Republic of China to promote the government’s interests through propaganda efforts. Among their platforms was the U.S. News Center, which purported to be a news source for Southern California’s Chinese American community, according to the DOJ.

In one example from June 2021, prosecutors said Chinese officials contacted Wang through encrypted WeChat messages to deliver prewritten news articles.

One drafted essay published in the Los Angeles Times stated, “There is no genocide in Xinjiang; there is no such thing as ‘forced labor’ in any production activity, including cotton production. Spreading such rumor to do defame China, destroy Xinjiang’s safety and stability, weaken local economy, suppress China’s development.”

Minutes later, Wang posted the article on her own........

© The Hill