A suspected Chinese agent who lives in Irvine was arrested by federal authorities at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday, Oct. 4 on suspicion of spying on a relative of a Taiwanese government official on behalf of the Chinese government, authorities said.
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Wanying Zhang, also known as “Heather,” allegedly conducted surveillance on the relatives of a high-ranking Taiwanese official last year, according to an affidavit. Zhang and another unnamed individual, who is described as someone employed in the construction field in the Los Angeles area, reportedly traveled to Seattle in September 2025 and rented an SUV to drive to a home and take videos.
The affidavit accuses Zhang, an Irvine-based realtor, of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
Federal law requires foreign agents to notify the U.S. attorney general.
Surveillance video from a Hertz Rental Car at Seattle International Airport allegedly shows Wanying Zhang and another unknown person waiting at the desk to rent a vehicle on Sept. 1, 2025. (Courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice)
Wanying Zhang was allegedly spotted in an SUV taking photos outside the Seattle home of the relative of a Taiwanese government official. (Courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice)
An image from a federal complaint shows Wanying Zhang of Irvine with an unidentified purported Chinese government official. (Courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice)
Wanying “Heather” Zhang, 34, of Irvine. (Courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice)
WeChat messages obtained by the FBI showed extensive communication between Zhang and two Chinese government officials before the surveillance operation. Messages that Zhang exchanged with Chinese officials following the trip to Seattle reportedly included videos, photos and license plate information related to the person who Zhang was spying on, according to the affidavit.
CBS News reported Sunday, citing law enforcement sources, that the target was Ting-Yu Lai, the son of Taiwanese President Ching-Te Lai. Ting-Yu Lai, the station reported, works for the Dutch multinational electronics firm Philips.
“If the (People’s Republic of China) were to wish to obtain leverage over the President of Taiwan during any potential conflict, the location and pictures of the close relatives of a high-ranking Taiwanese government official, including pictures of their homes and cars, could be useful to the PRC,” federal authorities wrote in the affidavit.
It claimed that the messages “make clear that Zhang was acting at the direction and request of one or more PRC officials,” though she had never notified the attorney general that she would be acting as an agent of a foreign government.
Images from a neighbor’s security camera included in the complaint allegedly show Zhang and the other person appearing to film Ting-Yu Lai and his family as they arrived home on Sept. 1, 2025.
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The affidavit cited Zhang’s last minute bookings and her brief use of a rental car during the trip to Seattle as further evidence of Zhang acting on behalf of the Chinese government, describing these actions as “tradecraft methods used by foreign intelligence officers.”
Zhang is scheduled to appear in federal court on Monday, Oct. 5, in Los Angeles for her initial appearance, according to a statement from United States Attorney Bill Essayli, who added that Zhang was attempting to travel to China when she was arrested.
Zhang’s arrest comes four months after Eileen Wang, then mayor of Arcadia, was arrested on suspicion of acting as an agent of the Chinese government.
Wang was charged on May 11 and resigned from the Arcadia City Council the same day. From 2020 to 2022, Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun of Chino Hills operated the U.S. News Center, a website claiming to be a news source for local Chinese Americans.
During that time, they received and executed “directives” to post content on the website from government officials within the People’s Republic of China. Chinese officials used WeChat to send prewritten articles to post on the website, including one in 2021 that denied the existence of forced labor camps in the Xinjiang region.
Wang pleaded guilty to the charge on May 29 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. She was scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Sun, Wang’s former fiancé and campaign adviser, is serving a four-year federal prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to the same charge.
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