The FBI arrested a suspected Chinese agent at Los Angeles International Airport after she allegedly surveilled the Taiwanese president's U.S.-based son, law enforcement sources told CBS News. Wanying "Heather" Zhang, an Irvine, California, realtor, was cuffed by federal law enforcement on Sunday before she boarded a flight to Shanghai, China, from LAX, on a charge of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. Zhang's husband Edric Ding, a realtor at the same firm, told CBS News when reached by phone Sunday: "I don't know anything yet," and declined to comment further.
It was not immediately clear if Zhang has an attorney. A criminal complaint, filed in federal court by a member of the FBI's counterintelligence squad in L.A., accused Zhang and an accomplice of traveling to Seattle, Washington, in September 2025 and taking pictures at the suburban home of a top Taiwanese official's family. Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the target was Ting-Yu Lai, the son of Taiwanese President Ching-Te Lai.
Ting-Yu, an engineer in his 30s, attended college in America and has a young U.S.-born son with his wife, Hsiao Chen, according to Taiwanese media reports. He now works for the Dutch multinational electronics firm Philips. "If the PRC [People's Republic of China] 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," wrote FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt in the Oct. 3, 2026, criminal complaint.
Taiwan has been the focus of high geopolitical tensions for decades. It asserts its independence, while the Chinese government claims it is part of China. The island is in a key position astride major shipping lanes, and is where many of the world's most advanced semiconductor chips are manufactured.
CBS News reached out to the Taiwanese consulate for comment. The complaint said Zhang, 34, and a man named only as "Individual 1" flew from Las Vegas to Seattle on Sept. 1, 2025, rented a black Nissan Rogue and drove to their target's home. Images from a neighbor's security camera included in the complaint allegedly show the two "appearing to film" Ting-Yu, his wife and their child as they arrived home that evening.
CBS News matched the images to an address near Seattle owned by Ting-Yu. Zhang allegedly texted her Chinese government handler: "Saw him. It's that young one," and "I am videorecording," followed by two license plate numbers, according to the complaint.
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