FBI arrests California woman at LAX on suspicion of surveilling Taiwan president’s son for China

The FBI arrested Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, at LAX on Sunday before her planned departure to China, the agency said in a statement. Zhang is 34 years old. She is from Irvine, California. Authorities charged her with acting as an unregistered foreign agent, the FBI said in its statement.

Zhang surveilled a son of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, the FBI alleged in its statement. The FBI did not directly name him. But the agency later shared a New York Post report identifying him as Lai Ting-yu, who was described in the report as a US resident. The Justice Department alleged that Zhang travelled to Seattle in 2025 at the direction of Chinese officials. From there, she sent photos, video, and licence plate information of the Taiwanese president’s son and his family to those officials, according to the department’s account of the surveillance operation.

Prosecutor calls Zhang a ‘Chinese foreign agent’

Bill Essayli, the first assistant US attorney for the Central District of California, alleged that Zhang used tradecraft to avoid detection. ‘She never notified the Attorney General she was acting for a foreign government, a federal offense,’ Essayli said in a statement. He called Zhang a ‘Chinese foreign agent’ in a post on X, the social media platform, where he outlined the federal case against her in detail. Essayli said Zhang will appear in a Los Angeles federal court on Monday.

Taiwan’s presidential office described Zhang’s alleged actions as a ‘typical case of transnational repression’ and thanked the US government for protecting Taiwanese citizens. ‘Our country expresses the strongest condemnation of such barbaric conduct that disregards human rights and the sovereignty of nations,’ spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement. China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the allegations against Zhang. It was not immediately clear whether Zhang had a defence attorney.

Cross-strait tensions as backdrop

Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party champion Taiwan’s separate identity from China, a political position that frequently angers Beijing, which views the island as Chinese territory. Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide their own future. The US is the island’s most important international backer and weapons supplier. Earlier this week, the US delivered two F-16V Block 70 fighter jets to Taiwan as the island seeks to build its defence capabilities to deter a feared attack by China. In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to achieve the ‘reunification’ of China and Taiwan, calling Beijing’s long-held goal ‘unstoppable’.

Washington does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The US is bound by law, however, to provide the island with the means to defend itself.