Audrye Wong offers a warning about the role of Chinese spies in America.
Eileen Wang was the mayor of Arcadia, a sunny Southern California town — until May, when she pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government. Her case highlights two fundamental, seemingly contradictory aspects of China’s influence efforts: They are far-reaching and pervasive, but the constituent parts — including the presence of entrepreneurial hustlers — do not always make for a well-oiled machine.
Beijing expects ethnic Chinese communities abroad to serve the motherland — read: the Chinese Communist Party’s interests — simply because of their heritage, while urging them to integrate into their host societies and engage with local politics. Individuals with ties to the CCP have allegedly worked as political aides and campaign fundraisers, run for American elected office and reportedly sought to influence electoral outcomes. CCP meddlers tap existing social infrastructure and turn to local liaisons to serve as eyes and ears on the ground.
According to her plea agreement, Wang operated a news site targeted at Chinese Americans and posted propaganda denying reports of human rights abuses in Xinjiang at the direction of a Chinese government official. At the 2018 founding ceremony of the American Southwest Chamber of Commerce, where she served as president from 2018 to 2022, Wang first spoke in English, emphasizing societal integration. She then delivered a different message in Mandarin, echoing Beijing’s rhetoric on promoting China’s rejuvenation and peaceful reunification of the motherland.
The CCP exploits personal vulnerabilities to recruit operatives willing to serve its cause. In 2024, the Justice Department accused a democracy activist of passing information on fellow Chinese dissidents to the Ministry of State Security in exchange for being allowed to visit ailing family in China. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China in 2025.
