On the day she was sworn in as mayor, Eileen Wang spoke in soaring terms about her journey from a “small mountain village” in China to America, and specifically to Arcadia, a small city in Southern California.
Then her speech took a sharp turn.
“As Americans, and especially as elected officials, our loyalty must always be clear,” she said, “to this country, to our constitution, to our residents, and to no one else.”
Three months later, in May, federal prosecutors announced that Ms. Wang, 56, had agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent of the Chinese government. She resigned as mayor that day and faces up to 10 years in jail.
Ms. Wang’s speech in February is just one of many plot points that have deepened the mystery around her true identity.
She jumped into city politics in her 50s, first as a Republican, then a Democrat. She had a fiancé who was a foreign agent. Or maybe not.
Before winning election to the City Council in 2022, she had actively promoted ties between the United States and China and voiced support for one of Beijing’s overarching goals, absorbing Taiwan. But some of her former colleagues said they could not recall any obvious examples of how she might have used public office to promote pro-Beijing views — or really any strong opinions at all.
“She just votes, and I don’t even remember how she votes,“ said Sharon Kwan, an Arcadia councilwoman.
Federal prosecutors have painted Ms. Wang, who pleaded guilty last month, as part of a concerted effort by Beijing to undermine American democracy. According to her plea agreement, Ms. Wang and Mike Sun operated a website, U.S. News Center, that circulated pro-Beijing propaganda at the direction of Chinese government officials from late 2020 through at least 2022.
Ms. Wang had variously described Mr. Sun as her boyfriend and fiancé. And Mr. Sun described Ms. Wang in a report for Chinese government officials as a “new political star” who had connections to higher-level American politicians, court documents show.
Analysts of Chinese politics say Ms. Wang’s case reflects Beijing’s efforts to influence both local American politics and the Chinese diaspora, as seen in recent cases in New York and San Francisco. China’s goal, intelligence officials and prosecutors say, is part of a long game to cultivate ties with politicians who might someday promote Beijing’s agenda on higher levels. It is also to keep tabs on the Chinese diaspora and silence dissidents.
But as Ms. Wang’s case demonstrates, the nature and effectiveness of these efforts vary widely. What did the Chinese government see in a low-level politician? How much did Ms. Wang know about what was being relayed to Chinese officials? And was she really a rising “political star”?
In Ms. Wang’s telling, she fell in love with the wrong guy, making her more of a puppet than a mastermind.
Her lawyers, who declined requests for an interview with Ms. Wang, emphasized that her actions had mostly taken place before she was elected to the City Council and before she became mayor, a position council members hold on a rotating basis. And, they say, her actions were not an “inherently nefarious act” and not equivalent to spying.
China’s influence play “is not a well-oiled machine,” said Audrye Wong, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies the subject. “It relies on all these local actors that are hustling for their own personal interest.”
The ‘Chinese Beverly Hills’
Ms. Wang was born in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu in 1969 to parents who were both doctors, according to court documents and Ms. Wang’s public speeches.
She moved to the United States in 1995, and wrote on her campaign website that she had studied business management at the University of Southern California. (The university said it could not confirm her attendance.) Around 2006, she moved to Arcadia, drawn by the acclaimed schools for her two young sons, she once told The Los Angeles Times.
She was part of a wave of mainland Chinese immigrants that moved to the well-heeled suburb starting in the 2000s.
China’s economic boom had created a class of overnight millionaires, many of whom looked to the San Gabriel Valley, which encompasses Arcadia, as a place to enroll their children in American schools and to safeguard their newfound wealth. These newcomers drove flashy cars and built McMansions on lots where modest ranch homes once stood.
By 2020, the city was 65 percent Asian, up from 45 percent in 2000. And it had earned a nickname: “Chinese Beverly Hills.”
Ms. Wang, who her lawyers said was a U.S. citizen, did not appear to be part of this influx of wealth. She and her then husband, Henry Wang, ran an after-school tutoring program, Little Stanford Academy. Her address history shows a series of relatively modest homes in the area.
Social media posts on accounts associated with Ms. Wang suggest that she had also worked as a real estate agent and cafe owner, and participated in local organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club.
Thomas Beck, a retired lawyer who is also a former Arcadia mayor, recalled Ms. Wang telling him that she had divorced her husband.
Reached by phone, Mr. Wang declined a request for comment.
In 2018, Ms. Wang established the American Southwest Chamber of Commerce, which promoted business and cultural ties with China. At the group’s founding ceremony, flags from both countries were arranged side-by-side, and performers sang both national anthems.
In remarks delivered in English, Ms. Wang noted the group’s goal to “promote the integration of Chinese immigrants into American society.” She then gave a lengthier speech in Mandarin, adding that the group was dedicated to promoting China’s “great rejuvenation” and the “peaceful reunification” of the motherland.
That speech echoed China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, for whom China’s “great rejuvenation” is a favorite catchphrase and mainland China’s “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan a longtime goal. Within Taiwan, the prospect of unifying with China has become increasingly unpopular, and Beijing’s growing aggression toward the island democracy has become a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.
In 2018, Mr. Wang’s name appeared on the nonprofit’s incorporation papers. By the next year, a local report indicated that someone else had become the chairman: Yaoning Sun, otherwise known as Mike.
The Boyfriend
In the San Gabriel Valley, Mr. Sun was known for working on cultural exchanges between the United States and China.
Like many similar groups, the American Southwest Chamber of Commerce organized charity drives and events that often brought together Chinese business leaders and community figures, as well as American politicians and officials from the Chinese consulate.
By 2020, Ms. Wang and Mr. Sun had started U.S. News Center, a Chinese-language website for the local Chinese American community, according to her plea agreement.
Archived versions of the now defunct website show content much like that of other Chinese-language “news” outlets that have emerged in recent years — ranging from geopolitics to U.S. military news, film festival reports and stock market developments.
Prosecutors said that Ms. Wang and Mr. Sun “executed directives” from Chinese government officials by posting pro-Beijing articles and then reporting audience numbers. It is unclear whether they were paid for their work.
The propaganda is unsurprising — offering, for instance, China’s defense of its repressive crackdown on the Uyghurs.
In August 2021, officials complimented Ms. Wang for a post that she said had been viewed more than 15,000 times, according to the plea agreement.
“Thank you leader,” she responded.
Archives show that the website also regularly published transcripts of news conferences by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as political documents by the Chinese Communist Party.
Ms. Wang also appeared on the website. An October 2021 article noted her familial ties to two prominent historical figures, including an early 20th-century Communist naval commander.
“I plan to carry forward the unfinished legacy of my revolutionary ancestors,” she was quoted as saying, and “do my best to build friendship between the U.S. and China.”
‘New Political Star’
By 2022, Ms. Wang was campaigning for Arcadia City Council.
In an early campaign filing, she registered as a Republican, but later switched to the Democratic Party to better align with her constituents, she told The Los Angeles Times in 2024.
She campaigned on improving public safety and addressing homelessness. She racked up endorsements and raised more than $119,000, an impressive haul in a race in which most candidates took in the tens of thousands. On social media, she documented enthusiastic door knocking.
Mr. Sun was listed as her campaign treasurer. By late 2022, he was also described as her fiancé.
In a December 2022 speech when she was sworn into the City Council, Ms. Wang thanked “my fiancé, director Mike Sun, who walked the streets with me every single day, who is a real leader of me.”
The day after she was sworn in, Ms. Wang attended a meeting in Southern California that included Mr. Sun, according to court documents.
John Chen, who had been known as an overseas consultant to the Chinese government, later described the group to Chinese government officials as a “team dedicated” to Beijing’s interests, according to court documents. (Mr. Chen was sentenced in 2024 to 20 months in prison for acting as an illegal foreign agent.)
Mr. Sun later drafted a report that described Ms. Wang as a “new political star,” and a list of U.S. officials she was “familiar” with, court documents show.
In conversations with Chinese government officials, the men claimed credit for Ms. Wang’s election victory, court documents show.
It is unclear whether, or to what extent, Ms. Wang was aware of this communication. “I think we should not let her know for now,” Mr. Chen told Mr. Sun in a February 2023 audio message.
The Fall
As an Arcadia councilwoman, Ms. Wang attended the city’s Christmas tree lighting and supported veterans programs, according to social media posts and interviews with other council members.
Her City Council colleagues noted Ms. Wang’s seemingly boundless enthusiasm for showing up to events. In the beginning, Mr. Sun was often around, said April Verlato, a former mayor who was on the council with Ms. Wang.
“He took her to everything,” Ms. Verlato recalled.
Contentious China-related issues almost never rose to the council agenda, colleagues said.
Privately, Ms. Wang continued promoting her commerce group. In February 2023, she went to Boca Raton, Fla., to attend a small gathering of leaders from overseas Chinese groups and officials from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, according to an article from an online Chinese-language account.
In July 2023, Ms. Wang officially stepped down from her position as president. At the annual conference in California, which was well attended by local elected officials, American and Chinese flags were once again displayed side-by-side. Mr. Sun was noted as the director of the ceremony.
Ms. Wang and Mr. Sun maintained ties through at least September 2023, when they traveled together to Los Angeles from a trip to China, court documents showed. The documents do not specify the purpose of the trip.
Then, in December 2024, federal prosecutors announced charges against Mr. Sun, who later pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. He was sentenced in February to 48 months in federal prison. Adam Olin, Mr. Sun’s public defender, declined a request for comment.
As Mr. Sun’s legal troubles grew, Ms. Wang tried to distance herself from him.
During a City Council meeting in September, Ms. Wang reversed course from her previous statements, flatly denying that Mr. Sun had ever been her fiancé. He was now her “ex-boyfriend,” and she dared anyone to suggest otherwise.
“Please prove it,” Ms. Wang said.
“I am very proud of myself,” she went on to say. “I always stand with our country.”
Yi Liu and Kitty Bennett contributed research.
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