California woman indicted on charges she was spying for China

A California woman who prosecutors allege was spying on a son of Taiwan’s president was indicted this month on charges of conspiracy and being an unregistered foreign agent for China.

The indictment was filed Oct. 9 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and the allegations it lays out mirror an earlier criminal complaint against the woman, Wanying Zhang, 34, of Irvine.

Prosecutors say Zhang, who also goes by Heather, spied on a son of Taiwan’s president outside his home in the Seattle area at the behest of Chinese officials. The spying is alleged to have taken place between roughly June and September 2025, prosecutors claim.

Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy that is the source of 90% of the world’s “leading-edge chip manufacturing,” according to the U.S. International Trade Administration. China claims Taiwan, which the U.S. has no official relationship with, though it is required by law to ensure Taiwan can defend itself.

Prosecutors allege Zhang was under the direction of an unnamed Chinese government official and former classmate at her alma mater, China’s University of International Relations, which is “closely affiliated with China’s intelligence apparatus,” an FBI investigator said in earlier court documents.

An example of the alleged activity was a request by the former classmate to send him pictures “of the house” where the son lives, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors alleged that Zhang flew from California to Las Vegas and then to the Seattle area to conduct surveillance of the unidentified son and his home from outside.

The indictment alleges she captured photos, video and license plate information and sent them to the person alleged to be her Chinese handler. An unidentified person, who had fled to China in September, was with her, prosecutors said.

Zhang also traveled to China in August 2025 to meet with a Chinese government official, returned days later and told the official she would most likely be going to where the victim was the following week, according to the indictment.

Her lawyer, Craig Harbaugh, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

Previously, Harbaugh, a veteran criminal defense attorney, described Zhang as an upstanding resident of Irvine, about 42 miles southeast of Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and two young daughters.

“The government’s theory — she’s been a sleeper agent for the last 10 years, working as a real estate agent, raising her family and will choose to go to China and abandon her work, her family and her home — it’s not supported,” Harbaugh said in court Oct. 7.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Sunday.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry, said this month after Zhang was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport that he was “not familiar” with the situation and that Beijing “opposes vilifying China by peddling the so-called ‘Chinese spy’ narrative.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve Kim ordered Zhang held in pretrial detention after prosecutors argued she poses a flight risk. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons website shows that she remains in custody.

Zhang is scheduled to appear in federal district court Friday for a post-indictment arraignment. She could face up to 15 years in prison.