The FBI arrested a suspected Chinese agent at Los Angeles International Airport after she allegedly surveilled the U.S.-based son of the Taiwanese president. Wanying ‘Heather’ Zhang, an Irvine, California, realtor, was cuffed by federal law enforcement on Sunday before she boarded a flight to Shanghai, China, from LAX, on a charge of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. Zhang’s husband Edric Ding, a realtor at the same firm, told CBS News when reached by phone Sunday that he did not know anything yet and declined to comment further. It was not immediately clear if Zhang has an attorney. A criminal complaint, filed in federal court by a member of the FBI’s counterintelligence squad in L.A., accused Zhang and an accomplice of traveling to Seattle, Washington, in September 2025 and taking pictures at the suburban home of a top Taiwanese official’s family. Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the target was Ting-Yu Lai, the son of Taiwanese President Ching-Te Lai. Ting-Yu, an engineer in his 30s, attended college in America and has a young U.S.-born son with his wife, Hsiao Chen, according to Taiwanese media reports. He now works for the Dutch multinational electronics firm Philips. FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt wrote in the Oct. 3, 2026, criminal complaint that if the PRC wishes to obtain leverage over the President of Taiwan during any potential conflict, the location and pictures of close relatives of a high-ranking Taiwanese government official, including pictures of their homes and cars, could be useful to the PRC. Taiwan has been the focus of high geopolitical tensions for decades, asserting its independence while the Chinese government claims it is part of China. The island sits in a key position astride major shipping lanes and is where many of the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips are manufactured. The complaint stated that Zhang, 34, and a man named only as ‘Individual 1’ flew from Las Vegas to Seattle on Sept. 1, 2025, rented a black Nissan Rogue, and drove to their target’s home. Images from a neighbor’s security camera included in the complaint allegedly showed the two appearing to film Ting-Yu, his wife, and their child as they arrived home that evening. Zhang allegedly texted her Chinese government handler that she saw him and was videorecording, followed by two license plate numbers, according to the complaint. The FBI agent wrote that the texts from the Chinese messaging app WeChat were obtained from a search warrant on Zhang’s iCloud account. The complaint claims Zhang was introduced in June 2025 to one of the Chinese government officials by a classmate from her alma mater, Beijing’s University of International Relations, which Holt said has close ties to the Ministry of State Security. Holt’s affidavit claims Zhang booked a private room in Changsha, China, during a June 2025 trip, where she allegedly met the government official and received her surveillance mission. Chinese government agents have previously been caught spying on and harassing Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the U.S. Federal prosecutors previously convicted individuals involved in infiltrating pro-democracy groups and setting up unofficial police stations to monitor dissidents. The Justice Department has warned of a plan by Chinese security services aimed at repatriating wanted Chinese nationals around the world.
Source: cbsnews.com
