LOS ANGELES — The resignation of a Southern California mayor who pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent for China has sparked backlash and reignited fears of anti-Asian discrimination.

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Earlier this week, Eileen Wang, 58, admitted to federal law enforcement that she “secretly served the interests of the Chinese government,” according to the FBI. She agreed to plead guilty to a single count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and resigned as mayor of Arcadia, a predominantly Asian city in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles.

Political figures including Bernadette Breslin, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the indictment was another example of Chinese-led plans to weaken the United States from within.

But racist comments began to appear on social media feeds soon after FBI Director Kash Patel announced on X the case against Wang. Many replies to Patel’s post announcing the charges suggested investigating other prominent Asian American women political figures. Others suggested violent punishment for her.

Advocates said they are concerned that this rhetoric is part of a long history of fear and discrimination that has proliferated for generations in regard to Asian communities, especially Chinese immigrants. Experts who spoke to NBC News said Asian people in the U.S. are often treated as perpetual outsiders, which can motivate violence in some cases.

The charges against Wang

Wang, who was elected to the Arcadia City Council in 2022, became mayor in February of this year. She resigned Monday, according to the city’s website, the same day she was formally charged in the case.

According to federal officials, Wang was at one point involved in “a media platform that she once operated with someone whom she believed to be her fiancé.” That fiancé was Yaoning “Mike” Sun, who pleaded guilty to the same charge in October and is currently serving a four-year sentence in federal prison.

Prosecutors said that the pair promoted propaganda for the People’s Republic of China through a website called “U.S. News Center.” The FBI described the site as being geared toward Chinese Americans living in the area. Wang and Sun executed directives from PRC representatives and sometimes sought permission from Chinese government officials to post content, Wang’s plea agreement said.

Although the charges were filed this week, Wang’s name had been associated with the allegations for years. The Los Angeles Times wrote in 2024 that Chinese government officials had asked for information on Wang while she actively campaigned in Arcadia.

At the time, those officials described her as a “new political star” in a criminal complaint filed against Sun, but there was no information connecting her to the propaganda postings at the time, the L.A. Times reported.

Wang became a prominent member of the Asian American community in Arcadia. She was honored by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., in 2024 for her leadership and “tireless efforts to improve the lives of Arcadia residents.”

In an emailed statement to NBC News, Chu said her recognition of Wang happened before the allegations were made public.

Chu said she was “shocked and disappointed” by the case against Wang. Chu also pushed back against anti-Asian sentiment that quickly began to circulate online and in some media outlets.

“The Asian American community has already weathered stigma, prejudice, and violence, fueled by rhetoric from President Trump and his administration,” the statement read in part. “We saw this in the violent anti-Asian hate crimes during COVID-19, and the unfair targeting of scholars of Chinese descent in Trump’s ‘China Initiative’ program — both of which I have fought against in Congress.”

Wang’s attorneys have said her political career in Arcadia stands completely separate from the charge against her.

“She apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life,” her attorneys said. “Her love and devotion for the Arcadia community have not changed and did not waver.”

Rhetoric that can lead to violence

The comments made about Wang are part of this larger narrative, said Russell Mark Jeung, professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University.

In early 2020, the revelation that Covid may have initially surfaced in China caused a wave of anti-Asian violence in the U.S. and around the world. It was not the first time suspicion of Asian people generated a violent backlash.

Beginning with the so-called yellow peril stereotype popularized in the 19th century, which depicted Asians as an existential and cultural threat to the West, Chinese immigrants have long endured accusations of espionage, disloyalty and malice, Jeung said.

As recently as this year, 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. said they worry that Chinese Americans pose a threat to society, according to a survey by the Asian American Foundation. And more than 1 in 5 Asian American Pacific Islanders reported being harassed or insulted in the past year because of their race.

“It goes beyond the allegations against this one individual and, instead, paints an entire community broadly as suspicious, disloyal foreigners,” said Dahni K. Tsuboi, CEO of advocacy group Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California. “That kind of collective blame is dangerous, not just for the Asian American community, but for all of us, all Americans.”

Tsuboi grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and remembers when Asian people were often subjected to acts of violence. She cited the 1982 killing of Vincent Chin, an auto draftsman who was beaten to death in Detroit during the decline of America’s auto industry and the rise of Japanese manufacturers. His attackers were a father and stepson who had recently been laid off.

“It was a very galvanizing moment, in some ways, for the AAPI community,” she said.

But the harassment and fear, Tsuboi said, “just keeps happening.”

“China is seen as such a rival that you have to pick sides,” Jeung said. “We’re so in a political polarized environment and racialized environment that it’s hard to straddle both.”

The brewing scandal coincides with President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, where he is meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping for a highly anticipated two-day summit.

The Trump administration has said the historic talks have largely been positive between the world leaders, but a different tone has emerged over the years concerning Chinese people in the U.S.

Jeung said he personally knows former faculty members at elite institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who were forced to retire or resign after being falsely accused of spycraft during the first Trump administration’s “China Initiative.”

The national security program, launched in 2018, targeted hundreds of academics and scientists to combat alleged economic and intellectual property espionage. The initiative was dismantled in 2022 after accusations of racial profiling, but the lingering effects can still be felt throughout politics and culture.

“We’re often thought of as more loyal to China than to the United States,” Jeung said of Chinese Americans. “It’s become politicized hate.”