The U.S. Department of Justice announced in a press release on May 11, 2026, that Arcadia, California Mayor Eileen Wang has been charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) within the United States and has agreed to plead guilty. U.S. political commentator Katie Zacharia said on May 12 that this case may only be the tip of the iceberg of long-term CCP infiltration into American local politics.
In a Fox News interview on May 12, Zacharia said that “sanctuary jurisdictions” like California need to undergo a “wholesale review of not just legal permanent residents, but people who are here from adversarial countries…” She argued that green card holders must be thoroughly investigated and targeted. “This person was acting as a foreign agent on behalf of the CCP. There should be no grace. They literally should be sent back to the People’s Republic of China,” Zacharia added.
Zacharia also said that Arcadia has become “Little China.” “If you go out to Arcadia, which I visited a number of times, it’s basically become Little China. And I don’t mean the cute San Francisco Chinatown that we’re all familiar with. This actually feels like you’re in China,” she said. “So I am not at all surprised that someone acting on behalf of Beijing is governing Arcadia. It feels like being in China there.”
According to the New York Post, Federal First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said that the Eileen Wang case is part of a broader pattern of CCP infiltration and influence operations in U.S. politics. According to him, the CCP cultivates local American officials, hoping they will rise to higher political positions and exert greater influence.
According to information released by the U.S. Department of Justice, the 58-year-old Wang is from Arcadia. Federal prosecutors charged her with one count of acting as an illegal foreign government agent inside the United States. She has agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in November 2022. The Arcadia City Council has five members, and the mayoral role rotates among them. Wang resigned after being indicted.
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DOJ documents show that, under her plea agreement, from late 2020 to 2022 Wang worked with Yaoning “Mike” Sun, a 65-year-old resident of Chino Hills, California, under the direction and control of Chinese government officials. They coordinated with individuals in the United States to promote CCP interests, including spreading pro-CCP propaganda.
Wang and Sun jointly operated the “U.S. News Center” website, which claimed to be a news platform serving the local Chinese American community. Prosecutors said the two received and followed instructions from Chinese government officials to publish pro-CCP content on the site. Sun previously pleaded guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal foreign agent and is currently serving a four-year prison sentence.
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “It is deeply concerning that someone who previously received and executed directives from PRC government officials is now in a position of public trust at all, but particularly so because that relationship with that foreign government had never been disclosed.”
In her plea agreement, Wang admitted that she acted on behalf of the People’s Republic of China while in the United States without legally notifying the U.S. Attorney General; that she was physically present in the United States at the time; and that she failed to disclose on her website that some content was published under instructions from Chinese government officials.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda B. Elbogen of the Central District of California, with assistance from trial attorney Garrett Coyle of the Justice Department’s National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the case.
