US arrests woman accused of surveilling Taiwan leader's son
Real estate agent Wanying Zhang allegedly photographed Lai Ting-yu's home near Seattle for Chinese officials. Taipei calls it "transnational repression."
The FBI arrested Wanying Zhang, a 34-year-old real estate agent from Orange County, California, who is accused of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government. According to CBS News, she was detained on Oct. 4 at Los Angeles International Airport as she was about to board a flight to Shanghai. Taiwan's CNA news agency dates the arrest a day earlier.
The criminal complaint says Zhang and another person traveled to Seattle in September 2025 and photographed the home of Lai Ting-yu, son of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, as he, his wife and their young son arrived. They allegedly then sent Chinese officials photos, video and the vehicles' license plates. One message cited in the file reads "Saw him. Young male. It's that young one."
Lai Ching-te became president of Taiwan, the self-governed island Beijing claims as its own, in May 2024, and China has not ruled out force. According to Focus Taiwan, FBI agent Kevin Holt wrote in the complaint that the information could be used by China to gain leverage over the president. Lai Ting-yu is an engineer who works for Philips.
Taiwan's Presidential Office condemned the case and spoke of "transnational repression." Spokesperson Karen Kuo said such conduct should not be tolerated in the civilized world. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Washington will defend individuals from the overreach of foreign governments. Bill Essayli, a deputy U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said, according to Al Jazeera, that Zhang used tradecraft to avoid detection. China did not respond to CBS News' request for comment.
On Monday, Oct. 5, Zhang appeared in a federal court in Los Angeles, where she only confirmed her name and that she understood the charges. There is no formal indictment yet, and what is described here are prosecutors' allegations: she has not been found guilty. Her detention hearing was reset for Wednesday, Oct. 7, so she can hire a private attorney.
