Elaine Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, a city in Los Angeles County, California, has been accused of being a Chinese agent. Wang pleaded guilty to a federal charge of being a foreign agent on April 1. The court released the documents on Monday. She resigned from her position after the charges were made public. The statement on the Arcadia city's official website said she did so on Monday. What is the incident? She admitted to the U.S. Department of Justice that she had once worked as a Chinese agent. From 2020 to at least 2022, Wang ran a website called US News Center with her ex-boyfriend, Yaoning "Mike" Sun. The website published news and information about the Chinese American community. However, the website was not legally registered. According to the Justice Department, Wang and Mike published executive directives issued by Chinese government officials. According to the Justice Department investigation, Wang has pleaded guilty to spreading propaganda at the direction of Chinese government officials without informing US authorities. Mike had already pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent in October 2025. He has already been sentenced to 4 years in prison.  According to Justice Department officials, Wang and Mike would screenshot the number of views of directories or posts and report them to Chinese authorities. 

It also republished essays and articles written by officials of the People's Republic of China government. These articles were found to mention that there was no oppression or ethnic genocide in the Uyghur Muslim-majority Xinjiang province.

'There is no ethnic genocide in Xinjiang. There is no forced labor in work such as cotton production. This rumor was spread to undermine the security and stability of Xinjiang and to discredit China,' a message from a Chinese government official to Wang said.

At this time, the American media was reporting on the inhumane treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province. The trend of boycotting cotton products produced in the Xinjiang region was growing in the United States. China has long been accused of suppressing the minority Uyghur Muslim community. 

Who is Wang?

Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in November 2022. This city, which is part of Los Angeles County, California, has a mayor elected by a five-member elected council.  Wang became mayor in February of this year. 

According to a news report published in the Los Angeles Times in 2024, Wang's family came to Los Angeles from Sichuan Province in the 1990s. She may have been born in 1967 or 1968, according to Al Jazeera news. 

She came to Los Angeles with her doctor father and

mother

. She moved to Arcadia in the early 2000s. She lives in Arcadia with her two sons. According to media reports, Wang has become a naturalized U.S. citizen. However, it is not clear when she did so. Wang's ex-boyfriend, Mike, became a naturalized citizen in 2012. Wang has said that she is no longer in a relationship with Mike. 

What could happen? Wang could face a maximum of 10 years in prison. Wang's lawyers, Brian A. Sun and Jason Liang, said that Wang's mistake was not an abuse of public office but a personal one. They also said that Wang apologized for the mistake. 

"It is important to understand that Wang's dealings with the Chinese government or providing information were entirely personal. They were done through a media platform she co-operated with her ex-boyfriend. They were not actions she took while holding elected public office," Sun and Liang said in a statement.  Mike has been charged with multiple counts of espionage against Taiwan while living in the US with the help of the Chinese. He pleaded guilty to the charge of being an illegal foreign agent in October 2025. He is serving a 4-year prison sentence.  Other cases are ongoing.