On October 8, CBS reported that the anonymous companion believed to have been surveilling Lai Ching-te's son in Seattle alongside Zhang Wanying is reportedly California builder Fatai Miao, and prosecutors say he flew to China on a one-way ticket about two weeks ago.
On October 7, according to CBS, Zhang Wanying, suspected of surveilling Lai Ching-te's son, offered three properties worth more than $1.2 million as collateral and agreed to electronic monitoring, but a judge at the federal court in Los Angeles ruled that she posed a flight risk, citing her possession of a Chinese passport she had not surrendered, her family's financial ties in China, and inconsistent statements about her assets, and ordered that she remain in custody. Prosecutors also disclosed that another person in the same case had already traveled to China on a one-way ticket.
According to a Reuters report, China's Foreign Ministry responded to the case in which Zhang Wanying was accused in the United States of surveilling Lai Ching-te's son, saying it was unaware of the situation and opposing the hype of the so-called Chinese spy smears and the slandering of China.
On October 5 local time in the United States, 34-year-old California real estate agent Zhang Wanying, suspected of spying on Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's son and family members on behalf of the Chinese government, made her first appearance in a Los Angeles federal court. The judge ordered her to remain in custody, with a detention hearing set for October 7. The indictment alleges that she received her surveillance assignment in the United States in Changsha in June 2025.
The US FBI arrested Zhang Wanying, a Chinese-American woman living in California, at Los Angeles International Airport, accusing her of being instructed by Chinese government officials to travel to Seattle to surveil Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's son, Lai Ting-yu.
On October 4, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested California real estate agent Zhang Wanying at Los Angeles International Airport, accusing her of failing to register as an agent of the Chinese government. The indictment says she received an assignment in Changsha in June 2025 from officials linked to the Ministry of State Security, and in September of the same year traveled with an accomplice to Seattle to photograph and surveil the residence of Lai Ting-yu, the son of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, passing the video and license plate information to the Chinese side.
Zhang Wanying was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on October 4 while preparing to board a flight to China, charged with acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government, suspected of surveilling the residence and family members of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's son. Prosecutors confirmed that she has become a naturalized U.S. citizen; she has not yet been convicted.
Zhang Wanying went to Seattle on instructions from Chinese government officials, waiting outside the home of Lai Ching-te's son Lai Ting-yu to film him.