California realtor surveilled family in Washington and reported back to handlers in China, federal complaint says
By Joyu Wang
The FBI arrested a California realtor on Sunday on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of China, accusing her of spying on a son of Taiwan's president under the direction of Chinese officials.
The alleged foreign agent, Wanying Zhang, a 34-year-old resident of Irvine, Calif., was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport before she could board a flight to Shanghai, U.S. authorities said.
"According to the federal complaint, she surveilled the Taiwanese President's son and his family -- filming their home, vehicles, and reporting information back to PRC handlers," the FBI said in a social-media post, referring to the People's Republic of China.
Beijing views Taiwan President Lai Ching-te as an obstacle to its goal of taking control of the self-ruled island democracy. In Taipei, Karen Kuo, a spokeswoman for Lai, called the alleged spying a "classic case of transnational repression."
Lai's office condemned acts carried out "with the aim of suppressing, threatening, or even harming advocates of freedom and democracy and their families," Kuo said.
Lai's son Lai Ting-yu earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the University of Washington and works for Philips in Bothell, Wash., near Seattle, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Zhang, also known as Heather, traveled to Seattle in 2025 under the direction of Chinese officials to surveil a close relative of a Taiwanese government official, transmitting photos, videos and license plate information back to Beijing, according to Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
"She coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection," Essayli said on his social-media account, citing the affidavit in the case.
Zhang is scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday, Essayli said. It couldn't be determined if she had legal representation.
China's Foreign Ministry said it wasn't familiar with the situation and has "always opposed using the hype around so-called Chinese spies to smear and slander China."
Taiwanese officials have said they see a growing trend in which Beijing targets Taiwanese individuals, think tanks and nongovernment organizations through surveillance, stalking and harassment.
In another case of Taiwan-related surveillance, a U.S. district judge earlier this year sentenced a Southern California man, Yaoning "Mike" Sun, 65, to four years in prison after he pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.
Sun closely surveilled the then-Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during her 2023 visit to California, reporting directly to Chinese officials on her movements, according to the Justice Department. He provided real-time updates to a Los Angeles-based Chinese consular official and sent photographs of individuals protesting both in support of and in opposition to Tsai, the Justice Department said.