Beijing in America's Backyard: a SoCal Mayor & an Operative Targeting a U.S. Lawmaker’s Aide

1. Local Government Infiltration Case

• A former Arcadia, California mayor (Wang) allegedly:
  • Admitted to acting as an undisclosed agent for the Chinese government.
  • Faces a felony charge with potential prison time.
• Prosecutors claim she:
  • Worked with Chinese officials for years before and during her time in office.
  • Helped spread pro‑Beijing propaganda.

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2. Use of Media for Influence

• Wang allegedly operated a Chinese-language website (“US News Center”) that:
  • Posed as independent news.
  • Was actually used to publish content directed by Chinese officials.
• The platform:
  • Targeted Chinese-American audiences.
  • Distributed messaging favorable to the Chinese Communist Party.

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3. Direct Coordination with Chinese Officials

• Communication reportedly occurred via WeChat.
• Chinese officials:
  • Sent prewritten propaganda articles.
  • Requested edits and monitored engagement.
• Wang allegedly:
  • Published content quickly.
  • Sent analytics and performance data back to officials.

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4. Narrative Control Example

• One cited article denied:
  • Forced labor and human rights abuses in China.
• This illustrates:
  • Efforts to shape U.S. perceptions of sensitive geopolitical issues.

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5. Escalation to Political Power

• Concern heightened because:
  • Wang rose into elected office while allegedly maintaining these ties.
• Suggests potential for policy influence at municipal level.

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6. Federal Espionage Recruitment Attempt

• A second case involves:
  • A House committee staffer being approached by a suspected Chinese operative.
• The offer:
  • Up to $10,000+ for policy insights.
  • Included advance payment to build trust.
• Targeted information:
  • U.S. foreign policy, trade, and national security issues.

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7. Spy Recruitment Tactics

• Alleged methods include:
  • Financial incentives (“easy money” offers).
  • Gradual relationship-building (“trial period”).
  • Persistent communication and probing questions.
• Reflects a strategy of incremental access to sensitive information.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good. Then I said, yeah, he's a dumb guy. And
then I said he's a Democrat. And I don't know
if people are gonna like that term or not.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
It maybe catches on and maybe it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
But it's true. If policies are insane, and they would
drive our country into ruin, and we've got to do
great in the midterms, and if we don't, they will
do everything they can to destroy our country. There's something
wrong with them. You're listening to the forty seven Morning
Update with Ben Ferguson.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good Tuesday morning. Nice to have you with us on
the forty seven Morning Update, and we've got two major
stories for you. First up, a California mayor right outside
of la resigning after agreeing to plead guilty to acting
as an agent for the Communist Chinese Party. This happening
is We moved to story number two, which is now

(00:48):
China making a full court press to infiltrate the very
Washington officials that are investigating Beijing's influence in America, offering
thousands of dollars. It's the forty seven Morning Update and
it starts right now.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Story number one.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
We have two very interesting stories that we're going to
start off with today, and a lot of it deals
with China and just how much they're trying to infiltrate
and being successful at it in this country, possibly stealing
major national security secrets and government information, as well as
influencing the towns that many of you are living in.

(01:25):
Perfect example of this is what we've just learned about
a celebrated democrat, a female California mayor is now admitted
to being a secret spy for China, and she looks
very different to her photoshopped original images, which is part
of the story. Now. The mayor of the wealthy southern

(01:46):
California city has since resigned after admitting she secretly acted
as an agent for the Chinese government. According to the
federal plea agreement that was unsealed on Monday, the former
Arcadia mayor out side of la her name was Wang,
She's fifty eight, and she agreed to plead guilty to
felony charge of acting as an illegal foreign agent for

(02:10):
the People's Republic of China and helping push pro Beijing
propaganda inside the US. Now, you may ask yourself, why
would they want a random mayor. Well, let's be clear,
China wasn't getting a random mayor. They were getting a
mayor of a very wealthy suburb of la and that
is exactly how she could help push pro Beijing propaganda

(02:34):
not only inside the US, but also with those that
have so much influence over our culture in Los Angeles. Now,
the interesting part about the crime that she's been charged
with is it carries a sentence of up to ten
years in federal prison. The stunning case prompted immediate fallout
in Arcadia, where city officials confirm Wang stepped down from

(02:55):
both the city council and the mayor's office on Monday.
Federal Prosecuersang spent years, let me say it again, years
working under the direction of Chinese government officials before rising
into elected office in Los Angeles County. They also claim
she used a Chinese language news website to distribute propaganda

(03:18):
favorable to Beijing while secretly coordinating with officials tied to
the Chinese Communist Party. This wasn't a low level operation,
this was full influence on the Communist Party in China.
Authorities described the website as a fake news platform specifically
targeting Chinese Americans, and that's where they find many of

(03:40):
their spies. Now, the case is also triggered intense scrutiny
of Wang's carefully crafted public image. Again, China plays at
a different level. They've gone pro is the best way
I can describe it. Campaign photos and promotional images used
during her political rise depicted Wang and heavily polished and

(04:00):
retouched portraits that projected a glamorous and approachable persona to
the voters. I'll go back to the core point here,
China has gone pro in influencing America.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Now.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
The unedited public images reveal a stark contrast to the
stylized campaign photographs that once appeared across city political materials
and social media. Her dramatic downfall came just hours after
the City of Arcadia announced Wang's resignation from the city
Council and her departure as the mayor. As a May eleventh,

(04:35):
twenty sixteen, Wang resigned from the Arcadia City Council, vacating
her position as mayor, the city said in a simple
statement posted online. Now. In its next meeting, the city
council says they will select a new mayor and a
Mayor pro tem from among the remaining council members, and
we'll begin discussing how Arcadia is District III will be
represented until next year's election cycle in November. Wang was

(05:00):
to the Arcadia City Council in twenty twenty two and
later elevated to mayor through the city's rotating leadership system.
According to the Department of Justice, however, Wang's ties to
Chinese officials stretched back well before she ever took office,
which is exactly how they have so much influence in
America right now. Federal authorities say that from late twenty

(05:24):
twenty through twenty twenty two, Wang worked alongside her then
fiance under the direction and control of officials tied to
the Chinese government. Together, prosecutors say they operated the website
called US News Center, which presented itself as a legitimate
Chinese American news outlet, while allegedly serving as nothing more

(05:46):
than a propaganda vehicle for Beijing, specifically to have major
influence in the US. According to the court filings, Chinese
officials sent Wang's articles and directives through the encrypted messaging
app we Chat, instructing her and others to publish content
that would be favorable to the Chinese Communist Party. One

(06:07):
of the most explosive examples outlined in the plea agreement
involved propaganda denying allegations of genocide and forced labor in China.
On June tenth, twenty twenty one, at Chinese government official
also allegedly sent Wang a pre written article. It was
titled China's stance on the of course forced labor issue.

(06:29):
Now there is no genocide. It started with, there is
no such thing as forced labor in any production activity,
including cotton production. Spreading such rumor as to defame China
and destroy the safety and stability the message rate, according
to prosecutors, now we all know that there are many
people that are actually yes slaves and slave labor in China,

(06:52):
like the Wigers, which is a huge problem for China
because the world knows that many of them are enslaved
against their will and being abused as we speak now.
The court document also says that Wang immediately reposted the
Chinese Communist Party propaganda to her website literally within minutes,
and then immediately sent the official link proving that it

(07:13):
had been published in America. So fast, Thank you everyone,
the official responded. Authorities say Wang repeatedly reported analytics and
audience engagement data back to Chinese officials after publishing the
propaganda articles for years in the US. In one August
twenty twenty one exchange side in the plea agreement, Wang

(07:34):
sent screenshots showing an article had to receive more than
fifteen thousand views After officials requested edits to the story
saying great. The official responded, according to the prosecutors, thank you, Leader,
Wang replied, Now, Federal prosecutor say Wang never disclosed that
the Chinese government was directing the content appearing on her website.

(07:56):
The case became even more alarming to investigators because Wang
ultimate he has sent it into public office. Now this
isn't the only story that should be shocking you right now,
which brings me to part two of what I was
saying about just how concern you should be about what's
happening with China. We now know from a New York
Times report that their headline pretty much says it all. Quote,

(08:20):
he offered a lawmaker's aid quick cash. Was he spying
for China? A staff member on the House China Committee
was promised ten thousand dollars for US policy insights on
issues like Venezuela and rare earth minerals. When a man
identifying himself as Chris Chen reached out this winter to

(08:43):
an aid on the House Committee focus on threats from China.
He came armed with a lucrative offer. The staff member,
mister Chen proposed could earn ten thousand or more by
barely lifting a finger. All he would need to do
is agreed to phone calls every other week to share
information about the committee's work and US foreign policy about China.

(09:07):
Insights into US trade or national security issues, including the
Trump administration's planned for Venezuela and the aftermath of the
January military operation there would be especially valuable, mister Chen said.
To sweeten the pot, mister Chen reportedly promised to send
the AID two thousand dollars up front. The offer seemed

(09:27):
too good to be true. Instead of quietly accepting the deal,
the aid, whose identity The New York Times agreed to
withhold because he works on sense of policy issues related
to China, reported to his bosses on the House Select
Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. The panel quickly concluded
mister Chen was not the Singapore based business consultant he

(09:48):
claimed to be, but instead likely a Chinese intelligence officer
or contractor seeking a new recruit. By framing the initial
offers a quote trial period. We learned mister Chang dangled
the expectation of a longer relationship, obviously with more payments
to come. It's a common recruitment offer to hook up

(10:10):
spies with real cash for those that are willing to
just drop a little information now. Rather than cut off contact,
the committee's Republican majority staff agreed to keep talking to
mister Chen. They record a series of calls this winter
to learn more about mister Chen's tactics as well as
his interests. Transcripts to those calls, which the Committee shared

(10:32):
with The Times, alongside some of the recorded audio, depict
a determined and at times impatient individual eager to earn
the trust of his mark and get down to business,
meaning having results for the Chinese Communist Party. Mister Chin
mixed holiday greetings with elaborate questions about manufacturing, for example,

(10:56):
in Vietnam and Mexico, as well as the future Venezuela's
oil industry. Now, what's truly incredible about this story is
the fact that the outreach by mister Chin to an
aid on the very committee that's responsible for investigating Chinese
national security threats appears to provide an unusually vivid portrait

(11:19):
of how Beijing spy services seeks to gain access to
sense of information from within the corridors of the power
in Washington. We also know about Chinese spies that are
sleeping with well former members of Congress while they were
in Congress. You may remember the guy from California that
was well sleeping with Fang Fang, the Chinese spy. We

(11:43):
also found out there was another Chinese spy that for years,
actually decades, was driving around a top Democratic senator. So
if you think this is a one off, it's not.
The scary part is right now there's hotelling how many
people are willing to take money from China to sell
out the United S's of America within our government all
over the country.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
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and we will see you back here tomorrow.