Federal agents arrested a 34-year-old California real estate agent at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday, accusing her of secretly working for the Chinese government and spying on the son of Taiwan's president.
Wanying "Heather" Zhang, who lives in Irvine, was taken into custody as she was preparing to board a flight to Shanghai. Federal prosecutors charged her with acting as an unregistered agent of the People's Republic of China — the charge authorities use when someone is alleged to be carrying out assignments for a foreign government without telling the U.S. Attorney General.
The arrest was announced Sunday by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who said agents from the FBI's Los Angeles field office made the arrest. "We just arrested a Chinese foreign agent at LAX attempting to depart for China," Essayli wrote in a public statement.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Zhang traveled to the Seattle area in 2025 and, at the direction of Chinese officials, watched and recorded the family of a close relative of a Taiwanese government official. She allegedly sent her contacts photographs, video footage, and vehicle license plate numbers. The FBI said she planned the trip with an associate and used covert techniques to avoid being noticed.
Law enforcement sources identified the person she was allegedly watching as Lai Ting-yu, the son of Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te. The FBI's announcement did not name the target, but prosecutors later confirmed the surveillance was aimed at a relative of Taiwan's president.
Essayli said Zhang is a naturalized U.S. citizen. In a television interview Sunday, he described what investigators believe happened: "She was conducting surveillance on behalf of the Chinese government. She was acting as a foreign agent. And she was spying on a relative of the president of Taiwan here in the U.S."
The complaint lays out how investigators say the relationship with Beijing began. Zhang studied at the University of International Relations in Beijing, a school that FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt described as having close ties to China's Ministry of State Security. A former classmate introduced Zhang to a Chinese government official in June 2025, according to the complaint. She later traveled to Changsha, China, where she met the official and was given a surveillance assignment — an assignment she allegedly accepted, later telling the official, "I can take care of this thing."
The complaint also includes text messages between Zhang and other alleged contacts about tracking the target in Seattle, where he works for the electronics company Philips. Surveillance camera photographs in the complaint allegedly show Zhang sitting in a car with an accomplice while taking pictures of his home and close relatives.
Zhang works as a licensed real estate agent with JC Pacific Capital Inc. Her Zillow profile lists about 130 sales and listings in the Los Angeles area and neighboring counties, according to CBS News. She is married to Edric Ding, who works as a realtor at the same firm. When CBS News contacted Ding after the arrest, he said he did not know anything yet and declined to comment further.
FBI Director Kash Patel issued a warning to foreign governments after the arrest. "Foreign adversaries take note: America is no longer a safe place to run your espionage operations," Patel said.
Essayli connected the case to a broader push by Beijing to recruit people inside the United States. "We have a problem with Beijing using Chinese-Americans for their own purposes in California," he said. "They are using them for their own foreign affairs because they are playing the long game to get a competitive advantage over us."
The arrest is the latest in a string of alleged Chinese influence and espionage cases in Southern California. Earlier this year, the former mayor of Arcadia pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered agent for China. Last week, a man from San Gabriel was arrested and accused of helping smuggle more than $300 million worth of artificial intelligence chips to China. Two Chinese nationals were also recently arrested at John Wayne Airport and accused of using stolen U.S. passports. Federal authorities say the cases are separate, with no indication they are connected to Zhang's arrest.
It comes as tensions between China and Taiwan remain high, with U.S. officials watching Beijing's posture toward the island closely. Just last week, Washington and Beijing concluded a high-stakes summit where tariff cuts and a new artificial intelligence dialogue were announced — a reminder of how economic and security rivalries now run side by side, alongside an alleged Chinese hacking campaign targeting U.S. AI experts.
Zhang made her initial court appearance in Los Angeles on Monday, where a judge ordered her held in custody; a detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Taiwan's Presidential Office condemned the alleged surveillance as "transnational repression." As in all criminal cases, she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.