Three years before California realtor Wanying “Heather” Zhang was arrested as an alleged Chinese agent, she appeared in San Francisco celebrating the visit of President Xi Jinping. Zhang was photographed in 2023 wearing a red cap and marching on the street alongside the leader of a Chinese-American organization with deep ties to the Beijing government’s foreign influence arm. The Orange County mother, 34, is now facing federal prosecution for allegedly surveilling the Taiwanese president’s son in Washington last year at the direction of Chinese government officials. The FBI stated it obtained her text messages with Chinese intelligence officials, plotting and executing a plan to secretly film Taiwan’s first son, Lai Ting-yu, and his family in the Seattle suburb where they live. Investigators also noted they have footage from a neighbor’s security camera catching Zhang during her surveillance mission. A CBS News investigation revealed the alleged agent’s backstory shares striking similarities with infamous suspected Chinese spy Fang “Christine” Fang, who had an intimate relationship with disgraced congressman Eric Swalwell before fleeing to China in 2015 amid an FBI espionage probe. Like Fang, Zhang attended the University of International Relations in Beijing, which is run by China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s intelligence agency and secret police. In a criminal complaint filed in a Los Angeles court, FBI counterintelligence special agent Kevin Holt wrote that the ministry recruits heavily from the university. After moving to the U.S., Zhang studied at the University of Southern California and obtained her real estate license in 2016. She built her business as a realtor with Irvine-based JC Pacific Corp over the decade, listing over 130 properties, according to Zillow, with prices ranging from hundreds of thousands to upwards of $8 million. Zhang and her husband bought their six-bedroom home for $5.65 million in 2024 and sold the property in June for $6 million. Her Instagram page features curated photos of Zhang in designer clothing, dining at expensive restaurants, taking trips around the U.S. and Canada, and shopping at luxury stores in Paris. Similar to Fang, she became involved in advocacy groups and events for Chinese Americans. In 2022, she attended an entrepreneurship competition for Chinese students with Chinese government consulate officials and received a young entrepreneur award. Her involvement in the All American Chinese Association brought her into contact with officials having deep ties to the Chinese government. According to prosecutors, by 2025 Zhang had fully embraced a role as a Chinese government agent. She traveled to China in January that year and met a government official and fellow graduate of the University of International Relations, the FBI affidavit stated. Two months later, the pair texted on WeChat about the address of a Taiwanese official who spoke out against the Chinese government. She allegedly visited China again in June and met with a second Chinese official in a restaurant, where investigators believe she received her mission to surveil the Taiwanese president’s son. After recording video of Lai and his family, she returned to Los Angeles and was arrested while attempting to board a flight to Shanghai at Los Angeles International Airport. She appeared in court on Monday following her arrest. The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment, though a spokesperson told NBC News that China opposes hyped-up accusations of spying that slander the country.
Source: cbsnews.com
