Federal authorities arrested an Irvine woman at Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to fly to China, accusing her of secretly surveilling Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s U.S.-based son and family at the direction of Chinese government officials.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
LOS ANGELES — FBI agents arrested a 34-year-old California woman at Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to leave for China, accusing her of secretly gathering photographs, videos and vehicle information on the U.S.-based family of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te for Chinese government officials.
Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, was arrested Sunday on a charge of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. Federal authorities allege that Zhang conducted surveillance of Lai’s son and his family in Washington state and passed the information to contacts working for the People’s Republic of China.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California announced the arrest, saying Zhang photographed and recorded her targets, collected license plate information and transmitted material to Chinese officials without registering with the U.S. government as a foreign agent.
The federal case alleges that Zhang traveled to the Seattle area in September 2025 at the direction of Chinese officials and used covert methods while observing the Taiwanese president’s relatives.
She was taken into custody before departing LAX for China and was scheduled to make her initial appearance Monday in federal court in Los Angeles.
It was not immediately clear whether Zhang had retained an attorney.
Although the FBI initially described the target as a son of a senior Taiwanese official, authorities subsequently identified the person as Lai Ting-yu, President Lai’s son and a U.S. resident.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Zhang and another person flew from Las Vegas to Seattle on Sept. 1, 2025, rented a black Nissan Rogue and traveled to the area around Lai Ting-yu’s home.
Surveillance video cited by investigators allegedly showed Zhang and the other person appearing to record Lai, his wife and their child as the family arrived home.
Federal investigators allege Zhang then communicated with a Chinese government contact through WeChat.
“Saw him. Young male. It’s that young one,” Zhang allegedly wrote, according to messages described in the complaint.
“I am videorecording,” another message said.
Investigators said Zhang also transmitted two vehicle license plate numbers.
The FBI obtained the communications through a search warrant involving Zhang’s iCloud account, according to the criminal complaint described by CBS News.
An FBI counterintelligence agent wrote in the complaint that information about the locations, homes and vehicles of close relatives of Taiwan’s president could potentially provide Beijing with leverage during a future confrontation involving the island.
“If the PRC wish to obtain leverage over the President of Taiwan during any potential conflict, the location and pictures of the close relatives of a high-ranking Taiwanese government official, including pictures of their homes and cars, could be useful to the PRC,” FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt wrote.
The allegations prompted a sharp response from Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Presidential Office confirmed that members of Lai’s family had been targeted and described the alleged operation as “a classic case of transnational repression.”
“Taiwan condemns in the strongest terms such barbaric acts — which disregard human rights and national sovereignty and aim to suppress, threaten, or even harm individuals advocating for freedom and democracy or their families — as such behavior should not be tolerated in the civilized world,” presidential spokesperson Karen Kuo said.
Taiwan also thanked U.S. authorities for investigating the alleged surveillance and protecting Taiwanese citizens and their relatives in the United States.
Chinese officials had not provided a detailed response to the allegations Monday. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while China’s Foreign Ministry was closed for a holiday.
According to investigators, Zhang had contact with at least two people she appeared to understand were associated with the Chinese government.
The complaint alleges she was introduced in June 2025 to one Chinese government official through a former classmate from Beijing’s University of International Relations, an institution U.S. investigators say has longstanding connections to China’s Ministry of State Security.
During a trip to China that month, Zhang allegedly met the official in a private room in Changsha and was given the surveillance assignment.
“I can take care of this thing,” Zhang later told the official, according to communications cited by investigators.
Weeks later, Zhang allegedly informed the official that she expected to travel north from California.
“I will be busy with work in L.A. this week. I will probably go to Seattle next week,” she wrote Aug. 26, 2025, according to the complaint.
“Ok. Thank you for your hard work,” the Chinese contact allegedly responded.
Zhang is a licensed real estate agent based in Irvine, according to public professional records.
Federal prosecutors have not accused Zhang of stealing classified government information. The case instead centers on allegations that she secretly performed surveillance and intelligence-gathering tasks inside the United States on behalf of a foreign government without notifying U.S. authorities.
Federal law requires people acting under the direction or control of foreign governments in certain capacities to notify the Justice Department.
The case arrives amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Taipei.
Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since 1949, when the Chinese civil war ended with the Communist Party controlling the mainland and the Nationalist government retreating to Taiwan.
Beijing considers Taiwan part of Chinese territory and has not renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Taiwan operates as a self-governing democracy with its own elected government, military and economy.
Lai, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, won Taiwan’s presidential election in 2024 and has repeatedly rejected Beijing’s claim that the People’s Republic of China has sovereignty over Taiwan.
He has said Taiwan and China “are not subordinate to each other” and that Beijing has no right to represent Taiwan.
Chinese officials accuse Lai of promoting separatism and have called him a “destroyer of peace.”
Lai’s government has responded to mounting Chinese military pressure by increasing defense expenditures and strengthening Taiwan’s ability to withstand missile, drone and air attacks.
He has pledged to raise defense spending from roughly 3% of gross domestic product to 5% and has backed a special defense budget that includes development of a multilayered “T-Dome” air-defense system.
China has meanwhile increased military exercises, aircraft flights and naval activity around Taiwan.
The United States does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but remains the island’s principal international security partner and weapons supplier.
The Zhang case also fits into a broader pattern of U.S. prosecutions involving alleged Chinese government efforts to monitor, intimidate or pressure people living in the United States.
The Justice Department has brought several cases alleging Chinese security agencies conducted what federal officials describe as transnational repression, including operations targeting Chinese dissidents, democracy activists and other critics of Beijing.
In one case, federal prosecutors convicted Shujun Wang of acting as a Chinese foreign agent after alleging that he infiltrated a New York-based pro-democracy organization and provided information about activists to China’s Ministry of State Security.
U.S. authorities have also prosecuted individuals accused of operating an unauthorized Chinese police station in Manhattan and participants in what the Justice Department has described as Operation Fox Hunt, a Chinese government campaign aimed at forcing wanted individuals abroad to return to China.
The allegations involving Zhang differ because the target was a close relative of the sitting president of Taiwan.
Investigators say Zhang’s activities went beyond gathering information available publicly online and included physically traveling to the family’s neighborhood, recording their movements and vehicles and reporting the information to Chinese government contacts.
Zhang has not been convicted, and the accusations contained in the criminal complaint remain allegations that prosecutors must prove in court.
Taiwan’s government, however, said the episode demonstrates that pressure from Beijing extends beyond Taiwan itself.
Its description of the case as “transnational repression” places the arrest within a broader concern among U.S. and allied governments that foreign states are increasingly attempting to monitor or intimidate political opponents and their families even after they travel or settle abroad.
For federal investigators, the immediate question is whether Zhang knowingly operated as an agent of the Chinese government while conducting surveillance inside the United States.
For Taiwan, the alleged target makes the case particularly sensitive: not a political activist or former official, but the family of the island’s sitting president.
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