India, May 30 -- In a formal admission to a federal allegation that had already compelled her to retire from public office, the former mayor of a city in Southern California, Eileen Wang, entered a guilty plea on Friday to acting as an agent of China.

Wang was charged in April with operating as an unauthorized agent of a foreign government within the United States. She entered a guilty plea to sharing stories that were beneficial to Beijing at the behest of Chinese authorities without first notifying the US government as required by law.

The plea was made in federal court in downtown Los Angeles by Wang, 58, who resigned as Arcadia's mayor this month. When she is sentenced on October 6, she might spend up to ten years behind bars.

1. W...