{"id":793661,"date":"2026-05-13T14:55:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/793661\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T14:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:55:25","slug":"crisis-in-chinese-beverly-hills-residents-fear-a-backlash-after-mayor-accused-of-working-with-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/793661\/","title":{"rendered":"Crisis in \u2018Chinese Beverly Hills\u2019: Residents fear a backlash after mayor accused of working with China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Generations of Chinese immigrants have settled in Arcadia, transforming the San Gabriel Valley suburb, a typical bedroom community, into a \u201cChinese Beverly Hills\u201d with high-end real estate and luxury shopping.<\/p>\n

But the city\u2019s residents, many of them affluent, learned this week that a prominent local elected official had a relationship with the Chinese government that federal prosecutors said crossed the line into illegal conduct.<\/p>\n

Authorities this week said Arcadia\u2019s mayor, Eileen Wang, was acting as an illegal foreign agent of China, a situation that has brought both shock and concern. Officials were quick to denounce supposed efforts by the People\u2019s Republic of China to influence U.S. policy, noting that Wang\u2019s alleged involvement occurred before she was elected to public office.<\/p>\n

Wang, a U.S. citizen, stepped down from her post on the Arcadia City Council on Monday after entering into a plea agreement with prosecutors over charges that she acted under China\u2019s control to promote propaganda in the U.S. between 2020 and 2022.<\/p>\n

The federal case outlines an alleged scheme in which the Chinese used Wang to burnish their country\u2019s image. Experts said it is part of a larger effort by the government to recruit allies in local governments across the United States.<\/p>\n

In Arcadia and other heavily Asian cities in the San Gabriel Valley, the charges have brought questions about what exactly China is doing, along with alarm about a potential backlash in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever something like this happens, it causes concerns within the Chinese American community as to whether or not we\u2019re going to become scapegoats,\u201d said Joaquin Lim, who served for 17 years on the Walnut City Council.<\/p>\n

There is no evidence presented so far of a larger conspiracy among local officials, and some residents fear new anti-Asian sentiment. Arcadia Deputy City Manager Justine Bruno emphasized in an interview with The Times that all of Wang\u2019s alleged misconduct occurred before she was elected to the City Council in 2022.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), who previously endorsed Wang, said in a statement that she\u2019s \u201cshocked and disappointed\u201d by the conduct Wang admitted to in court records. She added that the \u201cracist discourse we are seeing from the right on this matter is deeply troubling, but also unsurprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHatred has no place here, and I will continue to fight against all forms of discrimination, including the racial profiling and scapegoating of Chinese Americans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that our community is shocked and hurt by this news, but what\u2019s important to remember is that this was the conduct of one individual,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cI would not want to do a disservice for what Arcadia is known for and the strength of this community. There\u2019s a lot of pride and heritage in this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have already been calls to investigate others in the city. Local community Facebook pages have been filled with calls for the entire City Council, which is made up of Asian Americans, to be replaced.<\/p>\n

One commenter said the charge against Wang wasn\u2019t a surprise to those who live in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe San Gabriel Valley has been ground zero for maternity tourism and foreign investment schemes,\u201d the person wrote. \u201cHopefully this getting national attention leads to a larger crackdown and accountability. Foreign nationals using our weak system against us is a major problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Katie Zacharia, in discussing the situation with Fox News, called for \u201ca wholesale review\u201d of not just legal permanent residents, but also \u201cpeople who are here from adversarial countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wang said in a 2024 interview that she moved to Southern California from China 30 years ago. Her mother was a Chinese medicine and acupuncture doctor and her father was a physician in Sichuan province before working at USC, she said.<\/p>\n

Wang, a mother of two, has lived in Arcadia for two decades. Before she was elected to the City Council in 2022, she was mainly known for running an after-school program in Arcadia called Little Stanford Academy. She was also involved in the Arcadia Lions Club and the Arcadia Assn. of Realtors and was the president of the American Southwest Chamber of Commerce USA from 2018 to 2022.<\/p>\n

From late 2020 through at least 2022, Wang worked with Yaoning \u201cMike\u201d Sun<\/a>, her former fiance, to run a website called U.S. News Center that branded itself as a news source for Chinese Americans, according to the plea agreement unsealed Monday. Both Wang and Sun \u201cexecuted directives\u201d from Chinese government officials, posting requested articles and reporting back with screenshots showing how many people viewed the stories, the agreement says.<\/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.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors accused Sun and his Chinese government contacts of cultivating Wang in hopes that she would rise in politics and help them strengthen China\u2019s influence in California.<\/p>\n

Lim, the former Walnut City Council member, said the situation will send a strong signal to political candidates and incumbents, particularly Chinese Americans, to more carefully scrutinize the source of campaign donations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you raise your right hand to be sworn in as an elected official, you\u2019ve got to take your job very seriously,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, this is our country now, not China, and your allegiance should be to our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The allegations against Wang are part of a growing concern that China is attempting to influence state and local governments.<\/p>\n

In 2022, federal authorities issued a notice warning that the Chinese government was collecting personal information<\/a> about state and local leaders and trying to court those who might rise to higher office, according to documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

In 2024, federal authorities charged<\/a> Linda Sun, a woman who had served as a senior deputy to two New York governors, with being a Chinese agent working to push that government\u2019s agenda. Prosecutors alleged that Sun\u2019s actions included preventing representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A pedestrian walks by a restaurant in downtown Arcadia on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

(Christina House \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a popular mall in Arcadia \u2014 which is nearly 60% Asian, according to census data \u2014 was crowded with predominantly Asian American families, teenagers and groups of friends moving between retail stores such as Pop Mart, a China-based toy store, and popular dining spots Din Tai Fung and Haidilao Hot Pot.<\/p>\n

Mike Altamirano, 29, lives outside the city but loves visiting Arcadia, which he calls one of the nicer areas in Los Angeles County. A local politician being influenced by China isn\u2019t something he would expect, he said while sitting in the courtyard at the mall eating lunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not completely surprised … but at the same time … I don\u2019t like it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, it could be a wake-up call for voters to scrutinize politicians a bit more before casting their ballots, he added. The unintended consequence, he fears, will be rooted in racism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s even more reason for people to kind of blame more of the minorities around here and groups who are already facing prejudice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Generations of Chinese immigrants have settled in Arcadia, transforming the San Gabriel Valley suburb, a typical bedroom community,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":793662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[46106,323913,13257,1582,276,74,22165,2451,41512,9958,130750,454,2961,224,5337,1408,3546,40807,582,168002],"class_list":{"0":"post-793661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-arcadia","9":"tag-arcadia-city-council","10":"tag-authority","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-chinese","15":"tag-city","16":"tag-concern","17":"tag-country","18":"tag-federal-prosecutor","19":"tag-government","20":"tag-la","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-losangeles","23":"tag-official","24":"tag-people","25":"tag-plea-agreement","26":"tag-sun","27":"tag-wang"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116567850752557226","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793661","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=793661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}