The FBI arrested a woman as she left the country, accusing her of spying on the family of the president of Taiwan on behalf of China.
Wanying Zhang was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday, accused of working for China as an unregistered agent, Assistant U.S. State Attorney Bill Essayli said, according to The Associated Press.
The alleged target’s identity was not disclosed in the complaint, CNN reported. But a social media post from the FBI’s Rapid Response team said it was the Taiwan president’s son and his family.
Taiwan’s Presidential Office confirmed President Lai Ching-te’s relatives were the target.
Lai’s son, Lai Ting-yu, works for Philips in Bothell, Washington, near Seattle, The Wall Street Journal reported. He had earned a Ph. D. in bioengineering at the University of Washington.
Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 to take photos of the president’s family and sent information back to officials in China, the newspaper said.
“She coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection,” Essayli said on social media.
She is scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday.
China’s ruling party says Taiwan is part of its territory and has vowed to “unify” it, by force if necessary, CNN reported.
They split after a civil war in 1949. Lai says China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” while China calls Lai a separatist and a “destroyer of peace,” the AP reported.