Irvine Woman Arrested at LAX, Accused of Spying for China on Taiwan President's Son
The FBI arrested Wanying Zhang, 34, also known as Heather, a Chinese-American real estate agent from Irvine, at Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 4, accusing her of surveilling the son of Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te and his family in the U.S. at the direction of Chinese officials. The Justice Department announced the case on Oct. 5, charging her with acting as an unregistered agent of China. Prosecutors say Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 at the direction of Chinese officials and surveilled the home of Lai's elder son Lai Ting-yu, a U.S.-resident engineer, sending photos, videos and license-plate information of the family back to China. She used tradecraft to avoid detection and never notified the U.S. Attorney General of her work for a foreign government. Zhang is a naturalized U.S. citizen and has been a licensed Orange County real estate agent since 2016. Taiwan's presidential office called the case a "typical case of transnational repression," while China's foreign ministry said it was "not familiar" with the situation. Zhang made her initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court on Oct. 5.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：洛杉矶国际机场（LAX）停机坪与塔台。摄影：DreCube，CC BY-SA 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
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