Rùa Kim Quy nói "Giặc ở sau lưng!

 Rùa Kim Quy nói "Giặc ở sau lưng!

Arcadia mayor to plead guilty to promoting Chinese propaganda, DOJ announces

ABC News

Vu Hong Nguyen 

11/5/2026

Arcadia, một thành phố nằm ở Nam California mà mình đã có dịp sống hơn 5 năm, được xem là một trong những cộng đồng người Mỹ gốc Hoa và Đông Á đông nhất ở phía đông Los Angeles.Ngoài những hàng quán ngon và khu mua sắm sầm uất, nơi đây còn nổi tiếng vì mức sống đắt đỏ, khi một căn hộ chung cư nhỏ cũng có thể có giá lên đến cả triệu đô!

Thành phố này hôm nay bất ngờ trở thành tâm điểm chú ý sau khi thị trưởng Eileen Wang đồng ý nhận tội liên bang vì hoạt động như một “đặc vụ nước ngoài” cho chính phủ Trung Quốc mà không khai báo với chính quyền Mỹ. Sau khi vụ án bị công khai, bà đã từ chức.

Theo Bộ Tư pháp Mỹ, trong giai đoạn 2020–2022 (trước khi đắc cử vào hội đồng thành phố), Wang cùng Yaoning “Mike” Sun vận hành trang tin “U.S. News Center”, nhắm vào cộng đồng người Mỹ gốc Hoa ở Nam California. Hai người bị cáo buộc đã nhận chỉ đạo từ các quan chức Trung Quốc để đăng tải những nội dung tuyên truyền có lợi cho Bắc Kinh, nhưng không công khai rằng các bài viết này được chính phủ Trung Quốc định hướng.

Một ví dụ được nêu trong hồ sơ là vào năm 2021, Wang đã nhanh chóng đăng tải bài viết phủ nhận cáo buộc “diệt chủng” và lao động cưỡng bức đối với người Duy Ngô Nhĩ ở Tân Cương sau khi nhận nội dung từ quan chức Trung Quốc qua WeChat.

Wang hiện có thể đối mặt với mức án tối đa 10 năm tù liên bang.

Vụ việc cũng cho thấy sự khác biệt giữa cộng đồng người Mỹ gốc Hoa bình thường và các hoạt động gây ảnh hưởng bị cáo buộc có liên hệ với chính quyền Trung Quốc. Điều khiến nhiều người bất ngờ không phải là hoạt động tuyên truyền tồn tại, mà là nó có thể len vào tận cấp chính quyền địa phương của Mỹ.

Vì vậy, giờ mình cũng bớt bất ngờ khi nhớ lại hồi còn ở Hàn Quốc, mình từng hỏi thằng bạn Tàu đang học tiến sĩ rằng: “Bạn có biết sự kiện Thiên An Môn đã xảy ra như thế nào không?” Người đó khá tự tin trả lời rằng: “Thông tin đó không đúng, chỉ là do những người không thiện cảm với nước của nó thêu dệt nên thôi.” Có học như nó mà còn nhận thức như thế thì chắc dân trong nước còn bị "tẩy não" đến chừng nào!

Arcadia mayor to plead guilty to promoting Chinese propaganda, DOJ announces

ByKevin Ozebek and Liz Nagy 

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Arcadia mayor Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent, promoting Chinese propaganda, the DOJ announced.

Arcadia mayor Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent, promoting Chinese propaganda, the DOJ announced.

ARCADIA, Calif. (KABC) -- Arcadia mayor Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of acting as an illegal foreign agent, promoting Chinese propaganda, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday.

City officials say Wang turned in her resignation at Arcadia City Hall early Monday morning.

Investigators say Wang, 58, was working with her then-fiancé to run a website for Chinese Americans that was spreading propaganda from the Chinese government, or the People's Republic of China (PRC). They say that instead of acting in the interest of the people who elected her, Wang acted in the interest of the PRC.

Wang agreed to a plea deal last month, but it was just unsealed on Monday.

It's possible Wang could serve up to ten years behind bars for acting as an illegal foreign agent. She made her first court appearance on Monday and is expected to formally plead guilty in the coming weeks.

"Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. "This plea agreement is the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland against China's efforts to corrupt our institutions."

According to federal investigators, the mayor was posting PRC-approved news content on a site called "U.S. News Center."

The documents unsealed on Monday say Wang, "Received and executed directives from PRC government officials to post pro-PRC content on the website, and sometimes sought approval from PRC government officials to circulate other pro-PRC content."

Prosecutors write that, "Each time defendant posted to her website at the PRC Official's Direction, defendant was located inside the United States. Defendant never disclosed on the website that some of its content had been posted at the direction of members of the PRC government."

"The website that we're talking about looked like a standard news website that got a lot of traffic in the community," said Assistant United States Attorney Amanda B. Elbogen. "If you signed on, it looked kind of like the CNN website does, with lots of different, just regular news updates. Peppered in with the regular news were these items of propaganda."

Wang was elected in November 2022 to the Arcadia City Council, a five-person governing body from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis.

"Arcadia has a large Chinese-American community, and so it's concerning when someone is in that position of power who has previously, at the very least, acted on behalf of China," Elbogen said.

According to the city of Arcadia, Wang resigned from the city council, vacating her position as mayor, on Monday. At next week's meeting, the Arcadia City Council will select a mayor and mayor pro tem from among the remaining councilmembers.

"One part that we want to note is that the conduct she is being charged for is activity that occurred before she was sworn into her office," said Justine Bruno with the city of Arcadia. "This is a rupture in public trust, I'm sure, for some, as it relates to the conduct of a former public official."

City officials say they are confident there was no vulnerability for the city of Arcadia and its residents to the Chinese government.

"The conduct of an individual councilmember -- they don't have authority to act on their own. So, every decision that they make is as a body, so based off of the authorities and powers that they have, we are not concerned about any impact to city operations," Bruno said.

Meanwhile, a councilmember said she previously tried to flag Wang's actions.

"I cannot say that the outcome was entirely surprising," said Councilwoman Sharon Kwan, who says she tried, in chaotic city council meetings, to raise suspicions of Wang's actions, but faced resistance.

"It's just very important to protect democracy here, and just to ensure that there's no foreign influence," Kwan said.

Earlier this year, Wang's former fiancé and campaign manager was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Yaoning "Mike" Sun pleaded guilty to one count of acting as a foreign agent to a foreign government.

According to the DOJ, Wang and Sun received and executed directives from PRC government officials to post pro-PRC content on their website.

In one example outlined in the unsealed documents, a PRC official sent Wang pre-written news articles, which were then posted on her own website. She reportedly responded to the PRC official on WeChat with a link to the article on her website.

In another example, Wang is accused of making edits to an article, sending the PRC official a link to the article reflecting the requested change, then sending the official a screenshot showing the article had been viewed 15,128 times. In response, the official messaged, "Great!," and Wang reportedly replied, "Thank you leader."

"By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government," said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. "Let this serve as a clear warning: individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice. Protecting the rule of law and the transparency of our democratic process remains at the core of the FBI's mission, and we will continue working alongside our partners to safeguard the integrity of our elections and keep hostile actors from undermining the voices of the American people."

The unsealing of Wang's plea deal comes as President Donald Trump prepares to head to Beijing for high-stakes talks with President Xi on Wednesday.

"I think there is no coincidence to the timing of that," said former prosecutor Lou Shapiro. "I think he's trying to use this as an opportunity to show them that, 'We are onto you,' And that, 'You may think you're getting something over on us, but we're not going to let that happen. People will be held accountable.'"