The FBI has arrested a California woman at Los Angeles International Airport as she was preparing to leave the United States for China, accusing her of acting as an unregistered agent for Beijing and surveilling the family of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.
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Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, 34, was arrested on Sunday and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent, according to the FBI and US authorities. Investigators allege that Zhang gathered photographs, videos and vehicle licence plate information about Lai’s son and his family and passed the material to Chinese officials.
The arrest comes against the backdrop of intensifying tensions between Beijing and Taipei, with China continuing to claim Taiwan as part of its territory and Lai taking a firm position on the island’s separate political identity.
According to the Justice Department, Zhang travelled to Seattle in 2025 at the direction of Chinese officials and subsequently sent them photographs, videos and licence plate information relating to the Taiwanese president’s son and his family.
The FBI said Zhang used methods intended to avoid detection while carrying out the alleged surveillance and did not notify US authorities that she was acting on behalf of a foreign government.
Bill Essayli, first assistant US attorney for the Central District of California, announced the arrest and said Zhang had been working for China without registering as a foreign agent as required under US law.
Zhang was detained at Los Angeles International Airport shortly before she was due to board a flight to China. She is scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday.
It was not immediately clear whether Zhang had an attorney representing her. Her nationality was also not immediately known.
Taiwan calls alleged surveillance ‘transnational repression’
Taiwan's Presidential Office confirmed that relatives of Lai were targeted but did not specify whether the president's son was the person under surveillance.
Taiwanese officials described the alleged operation as an example of Beijing extending pressure beyond its borders to target people connected to the island's leadership.
“This is a classic case of transnational repression,” Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement.
“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,” Kuo said.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. China's Foreign Ministry was closed for holidays, according to reports.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why Taiwan's president is a target for Beijing
The allegations come as relations between China and Taiwan remain deeply strained.
Taiwan and China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949. Beijing claims sovereignty over the island and has repeatedly threatened to use force if necessary to prevent what it considers a formal separation of Taiwan from China.
Lai, who was elected president in 2024, has repeatedly rejected Beijing's sovereignty claims over Taiwan. He has said that Taiwan and China do not belong to each other and that the “People's Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan.”
Beijing considers Lai a separatist and has accused him of being a “destroyer of peace”.
Lai's Democratic Progressive Party supports Taiwan's separate political identity, a position that has frequently drawn strong criticism from Beijing.
Since taking office, Lai has also sought to strengthen Taiwan's defence capabilities. He has pledged to raise defence spending from 3% to 5% of GDP and has pushed a special budget for construction of the T-Dome air defence system.
US-China tensions add to espionage concerns
The arrest also highlights Washington's broader concerns about Chinese intelligence operations and alleged efforts to monitor people connected to Taiwan while they are in the United States.
Although the United States does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Washington is Taipei's most important international supporter and its main source of military equipment.
The FBI has not alleged that Zhang was a Chinese government employee, but prosecutors say she acted at the direction of Chinese officials and failed to disclose her relationship with a foreign government.
The case is now set to move before a federal court in Los Angeles, where Zhang is expected to face the charges brought against her.
