Arcadia, California. Mayor Eileen Wang has resigned after a strange piece of news - federal authorities are accusing her of operating as an unregistered agent of China. Under her plea deal, she faces up to 10 years in prison.

Wang was elected to the city council in November 2022. Hours after the plea deal was made public, she left the post. City manager Dominic Lazzaretto said the charges were „deeply troubling", but stressed that the conduct in question took place before she took office in December 2022 - meaning no city resources or staff were involved.

What did Wang and her associate Mike Sun do? According to the prosecution, they were part of a Chinese information operation. They controlled a news portal that presented itself as an independent media outlet for the Chinese-American community, but in fact published propaganda materials sent directly from Beijing. In June 2021 a Chinese official sent them, via WeChat, fully written articles - including pieces defending China's policy in Xinjiang.

The assistant US attorney was explicit: „Individuals in our country who secretly carry out the directives of a foreign government undermine our democracy."

Wang's associates have already been through the courts. John Chen pleaded guilty in November 2024 and received 20 months in federal prison. Mike Sun, arrested in December 2024, got four years for acting as a foreign agent.

The case says something broader - Chinese influence operations on the US West Coast increasingly work through local media portals and local politicians, not through traditional spy networks. For the Balkans this is a useful reminder that „a portal for the diaspora" is not always what its masthead says it is.