The American mayor accused of secretly working for China | The Global Story

A mayor of a southern Californian city has resigned after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) charged her with acting as an illegal agent of China.

Eileen Wang, 58 – the mayor of Arcadia – agreed to plead guilty to the felony count and Arcadia City Council said she resigned from her post last Monday.

Wang could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Her lawyers, Jason Liang and Brian Sun, said in a statement on her behalf that "she apologises and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life".

US authorities say the extent of China’s covert activity and espionage in the United States goes well beyond this case.

According to the FBI, Chinese counterintelligence and espionage efforts are a “grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States”.

We speak to Andrew Badger, former CIA case officer and co-author of The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets.

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:57 Who is Eileen Wang?
05:00 What was Eileen Wang accused of doing?
07:00 Why would the Chinese recruit Eileen Wang?
08:19 How many people in the USA are working for China?
14:49 Is Chinese espionage different to US espionage?
21:00 What is the scale of China’s espionage?