California Realtor Arrested at LAX in Spy Case Targeting Taiwan President's Son

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 5

Wanying Zhang, 34, of Irvine was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 4 while allegedly trying to board a flight to Shanghai, and is charged with acting as an unregistered agent of China.
Federal investigators say Zhang traveled to the Seattle area in September 2025 to surveil a relative of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, photographing the home, recording family members and sending license plate numbers to a Chinese government contact.
The complaint says she used tradecraft to avoid detection, including directing an associate to transfer images by AirDrop rather than WeChat or text; the associate later said he deleted the photos and cleared the deleted folder.
FBI officials say the target was Lai's U.S.-based son Ting-Yu Lai, and warned that collecting details on a senior Taiwanese official's relatives could give Beijing leverage during a potential conflict.
Zhang, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is due in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday as U.S. officials say the case reflects a broader nationwide Chinese espionage threat.