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<\/p>\nWith its top-tier schools, large residential lots and quiet living, generations of wealthy Chinese families have seen Arcadia as an ideal location to build a life in the United States. <\/p>\n
The influx of investment and dedicated citizenry has helped the San Gabriel Valley suburb flourish economically and culturally, earning it the nickname the \u201cChinese Beverly Hills.\u201d Asian people, including many Chinese, make up the largest slice \u2014 roughly 59% \u2014 of the city\u2019s population of 54,000, according to the latest census. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the San Gabriel Valley, many of the cities that have done very well have done well because of immigration from Asia,\u201d Arcadia Mayor Paul Cheng said in an interview with The Times. \u201cArcadia has done very well.\u201d <\/p>\n
But after months of scandal over a former council member accused of acting as an illegal agent of China, residents and city leaders are trying to reset the relationship and impose safeguards.<\/p>\n
Many in Arcadia were shocked the Chinese government would try to wield influence in small-town politics. But there was also anger that such corruption is alleged to have occurred there.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then-Councilmember Eileen Wang at Arcadia City Hall on Nov. 20, 2024.<\/p>\n
(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think all of us are very sad over the issue, confused, and all of us feel bamboozled,\u201d Cheng said during a study session this month. \u201cBut at the same time, I do not want fear, uncertainty or doubt to stop our city from moving forward.\u201d <\/p>\n
In response, Arcadia officials this month began what they say is a pioneering effort to determine how to protect local municipalities from influence by foreign governments. It comes at a time when federal investigators are continuing to probe the ways the Chinese government has made inroads into local governments and with elected officials across Southern California.<\/p>\n
Possible guidelines, which are expected to return to the council for consideration in September, include more scrutiny on requests for certificates and ceremonies from foreign organizations or governments, training for officials on how to recognize potential influence efforts and an official policy on engaging with foreign governments or officials. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere isn\u2019t a playbook that\u2019s given to council members,\u201d Cheng said in an interview with The Times. \u201cWe are hoping that we can turn what has been a negative into a positive and hopefully be somewhat of a pioneer on how cities our size can be able to improve the safeguards that are in place.\u201d <\/p>\n
Some wanted the city to take it a step further, enhancing residency requirements for council members and running background checks on candidates, a move that the city attorney said would probably be illegal. <\/p>\n
Most jurisdictions confirm only basic qualifications for holding office including age, residency and voter registration. In Arcadia, City Council candidates must be at least 18 years old, a California resident, a registered city voter and a resident of the district they seek to represent.<\/p>\n
Absent a background check, Councilmember Sharon Kwan suggested during this month\u2019s study session that council candidates answer a questionnaire about whether they or any of their family members are connected to a foreign government. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to elect someone knowing they have someone that\u2019s connected, it\u2019s the voters\u2019 choice,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have the duty to have transparency here.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear whether any of the suggestions would have raised a red flag in the case of former Councilwoman Eileen Wang. <\/p>\n
Wang, a U.S. citizen who was elected to the Arcadia City Council in 2022, stepped down in May after agreeing to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of China. The city of Arcadia wrote in a public statement after she resigned that \u201cno city finances, staff or decision-making processes were involved\u201d in the charges against her. <\/p>\n
From late 2020 through at least 2022, Wang worked with Yaoning \u201cMike\u201d Sun, her ex-fiance, to run a website called U.S. News Center that branded itself as a news source for Chinese Americans, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court. Prosecutors said both Wang and Sun took direction from Chinese government officials to post articles and report back on how many people viewed the stories. <\/p>\n
On Aug. 20, 2021, after being complimented for a post that was viewed more than 15,000 times, Wang responded to a Chinese official: \u201cThank you leader,\u201d according to the plea agreement. Authorities said Wang never disclosed that the Chinese government had directed her to post specific content. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors accused Sun and the Chinese government of cultivating Wang in hopes that she would rise in politics and help them strengthen China\u2019s influence in California. <\/p>\n
Former Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Santa Clarita), chairman of the nonprofit research institute America First California, said that strategy has been part of China\u2019s long game of influence in the United States for years. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf they put a chip on every number, meaning if they make contact with almost every elected official, one of those officials is going to move on and rise to a higher position of power,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they\u2019re successful in compromising them at the lowest level, they\u2019re probably going to be very successful in compromising them when they get promoted to a federal job like Congress.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt may look like an innocuous thing … [that] it\u2019s just a mayor from Arcadia,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a lot of cases where mayors turn out to be senators or governors.\u201d <\/p>\n
Garcia said foreign influence is something that local governments should be training their elected officials and staff members to watch for. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom line is that this has been a pervasive problem, it remains a pervasive problem,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI think there are more cases just like this. China is probably the most aggressive in terms of their efforts to infiltrate and affect and influence not just our politics, but our regulations, our industry, our economy, our culture, our schools, our national security, frankly, at all levels.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sun also pleaded guilty to charges that accused him of secretly working for China and was sentenced this year to four years in prison. Wang faces up to 10 years in prison during her sentencing hearing scheduled for October. <\/p>\n
In the months that followed Wang\u2019s guilty plea, federal investigations into allegations of public corruption and foreign influence have expanded across Southern California. <\/p>\n
The FBI last month searched the homes and businesses of a San Bernardino County supervisor, an Ontario City Council member and a well-known Chinese media producer based in West Covina. No criminal charges have been filed and federal authorities have declined to provide specifics on the investigation. <\/p>\n
In Arcadia, the situation has put residents on edge. Some have demanded the city more thoroughly investigate whether municipal finances or policies were compromised and enact safeguards. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think everyone, regardless of their political party or local alignments, should be deeply concerned that our leaders are vulnerable to outside foreign manipulation,\u201d said resident MJ Finstrom. \u201cIt should be the one thing we can all unite on and fight against.\u201d <\/p>\n
It has also created tension for the immigrant population that calls Arcadia home. Cheng said he\u2019s heard from Chinese residents who believe they\u2019ll be looked at with more suspicion because of Wang\u2019s case. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve always been looked at a little bit differently,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so now they\u2019re looked at extremely differently and they almost feel like they have to justify their existence. I\u2019ve been telling people that what happened is an issue that occurred with an American who happens to be Chinese.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not an issue that Chinese Americans are all tainted,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we have to accept: Foreign influence occurs regardless of color.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With its top-tier schools, large residential lots and quiet living, generations of wealthy Chinese families have seen Arcadia…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1016896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[46106,406940,1582,276,6517,74,15323,2451,406941,406942,58975,2961,224,5337,9105,11449,406943,582,168002,1628],"class_list":["post-1016895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-arcadia","tag-arcadia-official","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-case","tag-china","tag-chinese-government","tag-city","tag-foreign-government","tag-former-council-member","tag-influence","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-month","tag-resident","tag-small-town-politic","tag-sun","tag-wang","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117138848488504246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1016896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}