FBI arrests woman accused of spying for China in US

Federal officials said Sunday a woman accused of spying for China in the United States had been arrested by the FBI at a Los Angeles airport.

Wanying Zhang, 34, is accused of acting as an unregistered agent of China and spying on a Taiwanese official in the US for Beijing, First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in an X post.

“Zhang travelled to Seattle in 2025 and, at the direction of (People’s Republic of China) officials, surveilled a close relative of a Taiwanese government official, sending photos, videos and license plate information to those officials,” Essayli wrote in the post.

FBI director Kash Patel cheered the arrest in an X post Sunday, 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 added.

Zhang, who resides in Irvine, California, “coordinated the trip with an associate and used tradecraft to avoid detection,” Essayli said.

Zhang is expected to appear in federal court Monday for an initial appearance.