Alleged Chinese agent pleads not guilty in Los Angeles courtroom

Wanying Zhang, a 34-year-old Southern California realtor, pleaded not guilty to charges of being a Chinese foreign agent in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles on Friday. She appeared in a white jumpsuit and shackles, answering only to deny accusations that she surveilled the son of the Taiwanese president in a Seattle suburb in September 2025.

The plea inspects the case for a trial that will need the Justice Department to present its evidence of the allegations that she conspired with Chinese intelligence officials for a spy mission. Zhang was apprehended at L.A. International Airport earlier this month while trying to board a flight to China. She faces one count of acting in the United States as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government.

Zhang's husband, Edric Ding, was present in prior court hearings, but he did not show up for the brief hearing on Friday. Prosecutors previously alleged in a court filing that Zhang was having an affair with Fatai Miao, a construction entrepreneur who left Southern California on a one-way ticket to China following the alleged surveillance mission.

Miao's son dismissed his father's involvement with the Chinese government, and Miao has not been charged with any crime. The judge set a pretrial hearing for November 12, with the trial commencing on November 30 at a federal courthouse in Santa Ana, California. The estimated duration of the trial is four days. Neither the prosecutor nor Zhang's lawyer, Craig Harbaugh, commented on Friday.