On the day she was sworn in as mayor, Eileen Wang spoke in hovering phrases about her journey from a “small mountain village” in China to America, and particularly to Arcadia, a small metropolis in Southern California.
Then her speech took a pointy flip.
“As Individuals, and particularly as elected officers, our loyalty should all the time be clear,” she mentioned, “to this nation, to our structure, to our residents, and to nobody else.”
Three months later, in Might, federal prosecutors announced that Ms. Wang, 56, had agreed to plead responsible to appearing as an unlawful international agent of the Chinese language authorities. She resigned as mayor that day and faces as much as 10 years in jail.
Ms. Wang’s speech in February is only one of many plot factors which have deepened the thriller round her true id.
She jumped into metropolis politics in her 50s, first as a Republican, then a Democrat. She had a fiancé who was a international agent. Or possibly not.
Earlier than profitable election to the Metropolis Council in 2022, she had actively promoted ties between the USA and China and voiced assist for one in every of Beijing’s overarching objectives, absorbing Taiwan. However a few of her former colleagues mentioned they might not recall any apparent examples of how she might need used public workplace to advertise pro-Beijing views — or actually any sturdy opinions in any respect.
“She simply votes, and I don’t even keep in mind how she votes,“ mentioned Sharon Kwan, an Arcadia councilwoman.
Federal prosecutors have painted Ms. Wang, who pleaded responsible final month, as a part of a concerted effort by Beijing to undermine American democracy. In response to her plea settlement, Ms. Wang and Mike Solar operated a web site, U.S. Information Heart, that circulated pro-Beijing propaganda on the course of Chinese language authorities officers from late 2020 by no less than 2022.
Ms. Wang had variously described Mr. Solar as her boyfriend and fiancé. And Mr. Solar described Ms. Wang in a report for Chinese language authorities officers as a “new political star” who had connections to higher-level American politicians, courtroom paperwork present.
Analysts of Chinese language politics say Ms. Wang’s case displays Beijing’s efforts to affect each native American politics and the Chinese language diaspora, as seen in latest circumstances in New York and San Francisco. China’s aim, intelligence officers and prosecutors say, is a part of an extended recreation to domesticate ties with politicians who would possibly sometime promote Beijing’s agenda on greater ranges. It is usually to maintain tabs on the Chinese language diaspora and silence dissidents.
However as Ms. Wang’s case demonstrates, the character and effectiveness of those efforts fluctuate broadly. What did the Chinese language authorities see in a low-level politician? How a lot did Ms. Wang learn about what was being relayed to Chinese language officers? And was she actually a rising “political star”?
In Ms. Wang’s telling, she fell in love with the improper man, making her extra of a puppet than a mastermind.
Her attorneys, who declined requests for an interview with Ms. Wang, emphasised that her actions had principally taken place earlier than she was elected to the Metropolis Council and earlier than she grew to become mayor, a place council members maintain on a rotating foundation. And, they are saying, her actions weren’t an “inherently nefarious act” and never equal to spying.
China’s affect play “shouldn’t be a well-oiled machine,” mentioned Audrye Wong, a senior fellow on the American Enterprise Institute who research the topic. “It depends on all these native actors which can be hustling for their very own private curiosity.”
The ‘Chinese language Beverly Hills’
Ms. Wang was born within the southwestern Chinese language metropolis of Chengdu in 1969 to oldsters who have been each docs, in accordance with courtroom paperwork and Ms. Wang’s public speeches.
She moved to the USA in 1995, and wrote on her campaign website that she had studied enterprise administration on the College of Southern California. (The college mentioned it couldn’t affirm her attendance.) Round 2006, she moved to Arcadia, drawn by the acclaimed faculties for her two younger sons, she as soon as advised The Los Angeles Times.
She was a part of a wave of mainland Chinese language immigrants that moved to the well-heeled suburb beginning within the 2000s.
China’s financial increase had created a category of in a single day millionaires, a lot of whom seemed to the San Gabriel Valley, which encompasses Arcadia, as a spot to enroll their youngsters in American faculties and to safeguard their newfound wealth. These newcomers drove flashy automobiles and constructed McMansions on heaps the place modest ranch houses as soon as stood.
By 2020, the town was 65 p.c Asian, up from 45 p.c in 2000. And it had earned a nickname: “Chinese language Beverly Hills.”
Ms. Wang, who her attorneys mentioned was a U.S. citizen, didn’t seem like a part of this inflow of wealth. She and her then husband, Henry Wang, ran an after-school tutoring program, Little Stanford Academy. Her tackle historical past exhibits a sequence of comparatively modest houses within the space.
Social media posts on accounts related to Ms. Wang recommend that she had additionally labored as an actual property agent and cafe proprietor, and took part in native organizations just like the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Membership.
Thomas Beck, a retired lawyer who can be a former Arcadia mayor, recalled Ms. Wang telling him that she had divorced her husband.
Reached by cellphone, Mr. Wang declined a request for remark.
In 2018, Ms. Wang established the American Southwest Chamber of Commerce, which promoted enterprise and cultural ties with China. On the group’s founding ceremony, flags from each nations have been organized side-by-side, and performers sang each nationwide anthems.
In remarks delivered in English, Ms. Wang famous the group’s aim to “promote the mixing of Chinese language immigrants into American society.” She then gave a lengthier speech in Mandarin, including that the group was devoted to selling China’s “nice rejuvenation” and the “peaceable reunification” of the motherland.
That speech echoed China’s high chief, Xi Jinping, for whom China’s “nice rejuvenation” is a favorite catchphrase and mainland China’s “peaceable reunification” with Taiwan a longtime goal. Inside Taiwan, the prospect of unifying with China has grow to be increasingly unpopular, and Beijing’s growing aggression towards the island democracy has grow to be a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.
In 2018, Mr. Wang’s title appeared on the nonprofit’s incorporation papers. By the following 12 months, an area report indicated that another person had grow to be the chairman: Yaoning Solar, in any other case often known as Mike.
The Boyfriend
Within the San Gabriel Valley, Mr. Solar was recognized for engaged on cultural exchanges between the USA and China.
Like many comparable teams, the American Southwest Chamber of Commerce organized charity drives and occasions that always introduced collectively Chinese language enterprise leaders and neighborhood figures, in addition to American politicians and officers from the Chinese language consulate.
By 2020, Ms. Wang and Mr. Solar had began U.S. Information Heart, a Chinese language-language web site for the native Chinese language American neighborhood, in accordance with her plea settlement.
Archived versions of the now defunct web site present content material very like that of different Chinese language-language “information” shops which have emerged in recent times — starting from geopolitics to U.S. navy information, movie pageant studies and inventory market developments.
Prosecutors mentioned that Ms. Wang and Mr. Solar “executed directives” from Chinese language authorities officers by posting pro-Beijing articles after which reporting viewers numbers. It’s unclear whether or not they have been paid for his or her work.
The propaganda is unsurprising — providing, as an illustration, China’s protection of its repressive crackdown on the Uyghurs.
In August 2021, officers complimented Ms. Wang for a submit that she mentioned had been considered greater than 15,000 instances, in accordance with the plea settlement.
“Thanks chief,” she responded.
Archives present that the web site additionally commonly printed transcripts of news conferences by China’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs, in addition to political documents by the Chinese language Communist Occasion.
Ms. Wang additionally appeared on the web site. An October 2021 article famous her familial ties to 2 outstanding historic figures, together with an early Twentieth-century Communist naval commander.
“I plan to hold ahead the unfinished legacy of my revolutionary ancestors,” she was quoted as saying, and “do my greatest to construct friendship between the U.S. and China.”
‘New Political Star’
By 2022, Ms. Wang was campaigning for Arcadia Metropolis Council.
In an early marketing campaign filing, she registered as a Republican, however later switched to the Democratic Occasion to raised align together with her constituents, she advised The Los Angeles Times in 2024.
She campaigned on enhancing public security and addressing homelessness. She racked up endorsements and raised greater than $119,000, a powerful haul in a race during which most candidates took within the tens of hundreds. On social media, she documented enthusiastic door knocking.
Mr. Solar was listed as her marketing campaign treasurer. By late 2022, he was additionally described as her fiancé.
In a December 2022 speech when she was sworn into the Metropolis Council, Ms. Wang thanked “my fiancé, director Mike Solar, who walked the streets with me each single day, who’s an actual chief of me.”
The day after she was sworn in, Ms. Wang attended a gathering in Southern California that included Mr. Solar, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
John Chen, who had been known as an abroad marketing consultant to the Chinese language authorities, later described the group to Chinese language authorities officers as a “crew devoted” to Beijing’s pursuits, in accordance with courtroom paperwork. (Mr. Chen was sentenced in 2024 to twenty months in jail for appearing as an unlawful international agent.)
Mr. Solar later drafted a report that described Ms. Wang as a “new political star,” and a listing of U.S. officers she was “acquainted” with, courtroom paperwork present.
In conversations with Chinese language authorities officers, the boys claimed credit score for Ms. Wang’s election victory, courtroom paperwork present.
It’s unclear whether or not, or to what extent, Ms. Wang was conscious of this communication. “I feel we should always not let her know for now,” Mr. Chen advised Mr. Solar in a February 2023 audio message.
The Fall
As an Arcadia councilwoman, Ms. Wang attended the town’s Christmas tree lighting and supported veterans applications, in accordance with social media posts and interviews with different council members.
Her Metropolis Council colleagues famous Ms. Wang’s seemingly boundless enthusiasm for exhibiting as much as occasions. At first, Mr. Solar was usually round, mentioned April Verlato, a former mayor who was on the council with Ms. Wang.
“He took her to the whole lot,” Ms. Verlato recalled.
Contentious China-related points virtually by no means rose to the council agenda, colleagues mentioned.
Privately, Ms. Wang continued selling her commerce group. In February 2023, she went to Boca Raton, Fla., to attend a small gathering of leaders from abroad Chinese language teams and officers from the Chinese language Embassy in Washington, in accordance with an article from an internet Chinese language-language account.
In July 2023, Ms. Wang formally stepped down from her place as president. On the annual convention in California, which was properly attended by native elected officers, American and Chinese language flags have been as soon as once more displayed side-by-side. Mr. Solar was famous because the director of the ceremony.
Ms. Wang and Mr. Solar maintained ties by no less than September 2023, after they traveled collectively to Los Angeles from a visit to China, courtroom paperwork confirmed. The paperwork don’t specify the aim of the journey.
Then, in December 2024, federal prosecutors announced costs in opposition to Mr. Solar, who later pleaded responsible to appearing as an unlawful agent of a international authorities. He was sentenced in February to 48 months in federal jail. Adam Olin, Mr. Solar’s public defender, declined a request for remark.
As Mr. Solar’s authorized troubles grew, Ms. Wang tried to distance herself from him.
Throughout a Metropolis Council assembly in September, Ms. Wang reversed course from her earlier statements, flatly denying that Mr. Solar had ever been her fiancé. He was now her “ex-boyfriend,” and she or he dared anybody to recommend in any other case.
“Please show it,” Ms. Wang mentioned.
“I’m very happy with myself,” she went on to say. “I all the time stand with our nation.”
Yi Liu and Kitty Bennett contributed analysis.
