Federal agents arrested Wanying Zhang, 34, at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday, accusing the Irvine, California, woman of acting as an unregistered agent for China while surveilling the son and family of Taiwan’s president. She was detained before a planned flight to China, according to U.S. officials.
Zhang, also known as Heather, was charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Authorities said she traveled to Seattle in 2025 at the direction of Chinese officials and sent them photographs, video and license-plate information. Fox News and the Daily Mail reported that an unidentified associate accompanied her and that the surveillance occurred near the family’s Seattle-area home. The FBI did not initially identify the alleged target, but later shared a report naming him as Lai Ting-yu, Al Jazeera reported.