Southern California mayor’s guilty plea exposes Beijing’s reach into local US politics

The case may be seized on by China hawks to argue for tougher scrutiny of Chinese American officials, advocacy groups and media outlets.

Eileen Wang. Image via City of Arcadia

Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang resigned from her post Monday and agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, a case prosecutors describe as revealing a coordinated foreign influence operation reaching into Chinese American communities and the local offices that serve them.

The covert as…