A California woman accused of working for China as an unregistered foreign agent was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday after she allegedly surveilled the Taiwan president’s U.S.-based family, federal officials said. Wanying “Heather” Zhang, 34, was taken into custody before she boarded a flight to China, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced on social media. The Justice Department said Zhang allegedly traveled to Seattle in September 2025 at the direction of Chinese officials and surveilled the Taiwanese president’s son and his family. A copy of the complaint obtained by NBC News indicates the surveillance operation included sending photos, videos and license plate information. “She coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection,” Essayli said in a post on X. “She never notified the Attorney General she was acting for a foreign government, a federal offense.” It was not clear if Zhang had an attorney. She is expected to make her first appearance in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday. Taiwan’s Presidential Office confirmed President Lai Ching-te’s relatives were the targets, without specifying if it was the president’s son, saying that “this is a classic case of transnational repression,” according to The Associated Press. “Taiwan condemns in the strongest terms such barbaric acts — which disregard human rights and national sovereignty and aim to suppress, threaten, or even harm individuals advocating for freedom and democracy or their families — as such behavior should not be tolerated in the civilized world,” spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement. A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing told NBC News they not aware of the incident, and added, “China has always opposed hyped-up accusations of ‘China spying’ that slander and smear the country.” Taiwan and China split after a civil war in 1949, but Beijing claims the island as part of its own territory. Lai, who was voted into office in 2024, has said that Taiwan and Beijing do not belong to each other and that the “People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan.” China considers him a separatist and has called him a “destroyer of peace.” While in office, Lai has stepped up spending on defense for Taiwan, notably pledging to increase defense spending from 3% to 5% of the GDP, and pushing through a special budget for the construction of a T-Dome air defense system. ...read more read less