A woman arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly spying on Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's son is now suspected of a wider job for Beijing — bad news for Taiwanese politicians living or travelling in the US.

• Wanying Zhang, a 34-year-old real estate agent from Irvine, California, was arrested and is being held on a charge of working as an unregistered foreign agent.
• FBI court filings say she was also asked to dig up an Irvine address linked to a Taiwanese elected official known for speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party.
• The request allegedly came during a meeting with a Chinese official while she was in China in January 2025, followed weeks later by a WeChat message checking the address.
• Investigators say Chinese intelligence often hands out assignments while targets are inside China, to stay out of sight of US authorities.
• The official's name is blacked out in the public filing, and US prosecutors have not confirmed who it is.

Outlook: More details may surface as the case moves through court, and Taiwan's government is likely to press Washington on protection for its officials abroad.