The Presidential Office yesterday condemned what it called a “typical case of transnational repression” after media reports alleging that China has been illegally surveilling the son of President William Lai (賴清德) in the US.
Taiwan strongly condemns such “barbaric” acts that disregard human rights and national sovereignty, and seek to suppress, threaten or even harm people who advocate freedom and democracy or their families, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said.
“Such behavior should not be tolerated in the civilized world,” Kuo said in a brief statement.
Photo: X account of US Attorney Bill Essayli / AFP
She thanked US law enforcement authorities for assisting and protecting Taiwanese, and said Taiwan would continue to work with the US and other democratic allies to jointly combat illegal acts of transnational repression.
The Presidential Office’s comments came after CBS News on Sunday reported that the FBI had arrested Wanying “Heather” Zhang, a California real-estate agent, at Los Angeles International Airport that day on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. She was about to board a flight to Shanghai.
Zhang, 34, is accused of spying on a “close relative of a Taiwanese government official” in the US, First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on Sunday in a post on X.
Photo: X account of US Attorney Bill Essayli / AFP
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the target was Lai Ting-yu (賴廷與)
Lai Ting-yu, an engineer in his 30s who studied at a US college, works for Dutch electronics company Philips and has a young son, said CBS News, citing Taiwanese media reports.
Zhang allegedly surveilled Lai Ting-yu and “his family — filming their home, vehicles, and reporting information back to handlers” in China, the FBI said on its X account.
Zhang traveled to Seattle last year and, acting at the direction of Chinese officials, sent “photos, videos, and license plate information to those officials,” Essayli said.
She was detained by the FBI at Los Angeles International Airport “attempting to depart for China” on Sunday, he said.
FBI Director Kash Patel cheered the arrest in a post on X, warning foreign adversaries that “America is no longer a safe place to run your espionage operations.”
“Allegedly surveil a foreign leader’s family on US soil for the PRC — and try to catch a flight back to Shanghai? Not happening,” Patel said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Zhang, who resides in Irvine, California, “coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection,” Essayli said.
She allegedly flew to Seattle on Sept. 1 last year, rented a black Nissan and drove to Lai Ting-yu’s home, a court document seen by Agence France-Presse said.
Images from a neighbor’s security camera included in the complaint allegedly show Zhang and her associate “appearing to film” the family as they arrived home one evening, CBS News said.
Zhang allegedly texted a Chinese government handler, based on WeChat messages obtained through a search warrant for her iCloud account, the CBS report said.
FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt in the complaint alleged Zhang had asked her accomplice to use AirDrop to transfer the surreptitiously taken photos over a short distance to avoid leaving a record of the transmission through the Internet.
Zhang was expected to make her initial appearance in federal court yesterday.
Zhang’s husband, Edric Ding, who is also a realtor at the same company, declined to comment, CBS reported.
Zhang’s arrest comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) state visit to Washington, during which Xi told US President Donald Trump to show “prudence” over Taiwan and urged the US to oppose Taiwanese independence.
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