On the day she was sworn in as mayor, Eileen Wang spoke in soaring terms about her journey from a “small mountain village” in China to America, and specifically to Arcadia, a small city in Southern California.
Then her speech took a sharp turn.
“As Americans, and especially as elected officials, our loyalty must always be clear,” she said, “to this country, to our constitution, to our residents, and to no one else.”
Three months later, in May, federal prosecutors announced that Ms. Wang, 56, had agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent of the Chinese government. She resigned as mayor that day and faces up to 10 years in jail.
Ms. Wang’s speech in February is just one of many plot points that have deepened the mystery around her true identity.
She jumped into city politics in her 50s, first as a Republican, then a Democrat. She had a fiancé who was a foreign agent. Or maybe not.
Before winning election to the City Council in 2022, she had actively promoted ties between the United States and China and voiced support for one of Beijing’s overarching goals, absorbing Taiwan. But some of her former colleagues said they could not recall any obvious examples of how she might have used public office to promote pro-Beijing views — or really any strong opinions at all.
