A 34-year-old Irvine real estate agent was arrested Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport on federal charges of acting as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China, including by conducting surveillance on family members of a high-ranking Taiwanese government official in the United States.

Wanying Zhang, also known as “Heather Zhang,” was taken into custody by the FBI as she attempted to board a flight to China and is expected to face arraignment in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

Federal complaint alleges covert surveillance mission

According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court, Zhang acted as an agent of the Chinese government from June 2025 to September 2025 without notifying the U.S. Attorney General, as required by federal law.

The affidavit, signed by FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt of the Counterintelligence Squad, alleges that Zhang traveled to China in June 2025, where she met with Chinese government officials and was tasked with conducting surveillance in the United States.

In late August and early September 2025, Zhang and another individual flew from John Wayne Airport in Orange County to Las Vegas, then on to the Pacific Northwest, where the targets reside. Upon arrival, they rented a vehicle and drove to the residence of a close relative of a high-ranking Taiwanese government official, where they conducted surveillance.

Security camera footage from a neighbor’s home reportedly shows Zhang and her companion holding up their phones “in a manner indicating that they were taking pictures and/or videos of the family” as the target and his family arrived home.

During the operation, Zhang allegedly exchanged WeChat messages with a Chinese government official, writing: “Saw him, young male, it’s the young one,” and later replying “I am videorecording” when asked to join an audio call. She also sent the official license plate numbers for two vehicles parked in front of the residence.

Target identified as son of Taiwan’s president

While the criminal complaint does not name the target, the FBI and multiple law enforcement sources identified the subject of the surveillance as Lai Ting-yu, the elder son of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te.

Lai Ting-yu, an engineer in his 30s, studied in the United States and now works for Dutch electronics company Philips in the Seattle metropolitan area, according to Taiwanese media reports and his publicly available professional profile. He has a young U.S.-born son with his wife, Hsiao Chen.

FBI Special Agent Holt wrote in the affidavit that “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 Chinese government “if the PRC wished to obtain leverage over the President of Taiwan during any potential conflict.”

Taiwan condemns ‘transnational repression’

Taiwan’s Presidential Office confirmed that President Lai Ching-te’s relatives were the targets and described the incident 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 Office spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement.

Kuo thanked U.S. law enforcement authorities for assisting and protecting Taiwanese citizens and said Taiwan would continue to work with the United States and other democratic allies to combat illegal acts of transnational repression.

Background and alleged ties to Chinese intelligence

The affidavit alleges that Zhang attended the University of International Relations in Beijing, an institution that Holt said is “closely affiliated with China’s intelligence apparatus.”

According to the complaint, Zhang kept in contact with a former classmate from the university who became a Chinese government official, and that classmate introduced her to another government official.

In June 2025, Zhang allegedly met with one of these officials in Changsha, China, where they discussed a “U.S. house” and she later messaged that she could “take care of this thing,” which Holt interpreted in the affidavit as agreeing to execute the surveillance tasking in Seattle.

Prosecutors and potential penalties

Zhang is charged with one count of acting in the United States as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. If convicted, she would face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

Assistant United States Attorneys Amanda B. Elbogen and Colin S. Scott of the National Security Division, along with Justice Department Senior Counsel Scott M. Lara, are prosecuting the case.

At her initial court appearance Monday, Zhang offered no plea and was ordered held pending a detention hearing, which was rescheduled to give her time to retain private counsel.

Officials: Case underscores foreign interference threat

“Protecting our national security means confronting foreign governments that engage in covert operations in our nation,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. “Ms. Zhang acted at the direction of Chinese government officials to spy on the family of a senior Taiwanese official here in the United States. She violated our laws and will be held accountable in our courts.”

“The complaint in this case lays bare a brazen plot directed by the Chinese government to conduct a covert surveillance mission on U.S. soil targeting close relatives of a Taiwanese government official,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.

Rozhavsky added that Zhang’s arrest “makes clear how far China’s authoritarian regime will go to advance its goals,” but also “demonstrates the FBI’s unwavering commitment to defending the sovereignty of our democratic allies and combating all attempts by the Chinese government — and any foreign adversary — to conduct transnational repression within our borders.”

Context: Rising cases of alleged Chinese agents in U.S.

Zhang’s arrest is the latest in a series of Justice Department prosecutions aimed at rooting out alleged covert agents advancing Beijing’s interests on American soil.

In May, Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China, admitting she was directed by Chinese officials to promote propaganda in the United States between 2020 and 2022. In February, a San Bernardino County man was sentenced to four years in federal prison for acting as a covert agent of China, including by monitoring a trip by then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to Southern California in 2023.

The Justice Department has warned of Chinese security-service efforts, including operations such as “Fox Hunt,” aimed at locating, monitoring, and pressuring individuals overseas whom Beijing views as adversaries or targets for repatriation.

This article is based on official court documents and public statements from the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, and Taiwanese government officials. A criminal complaint is an allegation; defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.