California woman arrested for spying for China and surveilling Taiwanese president’s son, officials say

The FBI on Sunday arrested a 34-year-old California woman who has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent for China and allegedly surveilled the Taiwanese president’s son and his family, federal officials said. Wanying “Heather” Zhang, of Irvine, allegedly surveilled a close relative of a Taiwanese government official after traveling to Seattle in 2025, according to a federal complaint. The complaint signed on Saturday alleged Zhang was directed by Chinese officials to gather information about and take photos of the relative, who was not named in the complaint. The FBI said in a social media post that Zhang had been surveilling the son of Taiwan president Lai Ching-te and his family. China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it and has long vowed to “unify” the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.