Taipei, Oct 5 (EFE).- United States authorities arrested a California woman Sunday for allegedly surveilling the son of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on behalf of Chinese officials, in what Taipei described as a typical case of Beijing’s «transnational repression» against Taiwanese citizens.
Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, 34, a resident of Irvine, California, was arrested by FBI agents at Los Angeles International Airport under a federal criminal complaint accusing her of acting as an «unregistered agent» of the People’s Republic of China in the United States, Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said on X.
According to Essayli, Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 and, following instructions from Beijing, surveilled a «close relative» of a «high-ranking official» in the Taiwanese government and sent Chinese officials photographs, videos and vehicle license plate information.
Zhang coordinated the trip with an associate and used «tradecraft» to avoid detection, the prosecutor said. He added that Zhang «never notified» the U.S. government that she was acting on behalf of a foreign government, which constitutes a federal offense.
«Foreign adversaries, take note: America is no longer a safe place to run your espionage operations,» FBI Director Kash Patel said on X. «This FBI is hunting threats to our national security wherever they hide and bringing them to justice.»
Patel also shared a New York Post article that, citing the FBI complaint, identified Zhang’s alleged target as Lai Ting-yu, the son of the Taiwanese president and an employee of Dutch electronics company Philips.
The complaint includes text messages exchanged between Zhang and other alleged agents concerning the surveillance of Lai, as well as security-camera images that allegedly show Zhang sitting in a vehicle with an accomplice who took photographs of his home and close family members.
Taiwanese presidential spokesperson Karen Kuo on Monday expressed Taipei’s «strongest condemnation» of «such barbaric acts that disregard human rights and the sovereignty of nations, and are intended to suppress, threaten or even harm those who advocate freedom and democracy, or their families.»
Kuo thanked U.S. judicial authorities for the «assistance» and «protection» provided to Taiwanese citizens and said Taipei would continue working with its democratic allies and partners to «jointly combat such illegal acts of transnational repression.»
The arrest could further strain relations between the United States and China, just over a week after Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met at a summit in Washington.
Beijing considers Taiwan an «inalienable part» of its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring the island under its control. It has repeatedly warned Washington that Taiwan is a «red line» in relations between the two powers. EFE
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