presidents

A California woman allegedly sent photos and videos of President Lai’s son and his family to Chinese officials.

The FBI has arrested a “Chinese foreign agent” at Los Angeles International Airport accused of spying on the Taiwanese president’s son.

Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, was arrested on Sunday before her planned departure to China, the first assistant US attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, said in a post on X.

Authorities charged Zhang, 34, of Irvine, California, with acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

Zhang surveilled Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te’s son, the FBI said. The agency did not directly name Zhang’s alleged target, but later shared a news article identifying him as Lai Ting-yu.

The US Justice Department said Zhang travelled to Seattle in 2025 at the behest of Chinese officials. She sent photos, video and license plate information of the Taiwanese leader’s son and his family to China.

Essayli called Zhang a “Chinese foreign agent” and said she “used tradecraft to avoid detection”.

“She never notified the Attorney General she was acting for a foreign government, a federal offense,” he added.

Essayli said Zhang will appear in a Los Angeles federal court on Monday.

William Lai Ching-te and his Democratic Progressive Party say that Taiwan is already an independent country separate from China. Beijing views the island as Chinese territory.

Washington does not have ⁠formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but the US is bound by law to provide the island with the means to ‌defend itself.

Earlier this week, the US delivered two F-16V ⁠Block 70 fighter jets to Taiwan as the island seeks to build its defence capabilities to deter a feared attack by China.

In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to achieve the “reunification” of China and Taiwan, calling Beijing’s long-held goal “unstoppable”.

Watch highlights from the final day of the Presidents Cup as the United States complete a thrilling comeback to beat the Internationals and win their 11th successive title.

READ MORE: US complete thrilling comeback to retain Presidents Cup

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The United States completed a thrilling comeback on the final day to beat the Internationals and win an 11th successive Presidents Cup.

The hosts, containing eight of the world’s 11 top-ranked players, trailed by three points going into Sunday and were looking to avoid just a second defeat since the biennial competition began 32 years ago.

They dominated the singles, winning nine of the 12 matches, to seal a 17-13 win at Medinah – the scene of Team Europe’s famous Ryder Cup comeback win in 2012.

Jacob Bridgeman secured the decisive point by holing a four-foot par putt at the 18th to seal a one-up win over Australia’s Min Woo Lee.

There were also wins for Cameron Young, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Chris Gotterup, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Jackson Koivun.

“I told the guys last night that funny stuff happens here. Medinah’s got a history of funny things happening,” said US captain Brandt Snedeker, who was a member of the team beaten by Europe in 2012.

“All these guys fought for each other, fought for this country, fought for this team.”

International captain Geoff Ogilvy said: “The US team came out firing, we knew they would.

“It was on a knife edge all day. If some of those one downs we had out there had flipped to one up, the numbers looked really good and who knows what momentum that could give.”

US President Donald Trump was in attendance in his role as honorary chairman, greeting the players and making a speech before the matches got under way.

The International team need five points on the final day to secure a first Presidents Cup in 28 years after holding off a United States fightback on day three in Medinah.

The Internationals were behind in every match at one stage but will go into Sunday’s singles holding a 10-5-7.5 lead.

The hosts had the better of the morning session, winning two and tying one of the four-balls.

But the teams split the afternoon foursomes, with Canada’s Corey Conners saving par at the 18th to win the final match on the course and preserve the Internationals’ three-point lead.

The International team have only won the President’s Cup once since its inception in 1994 and never on American soil.

“We were down in every match, and to come back and get one and a half points out of this morning, we felt that was a little victory because we were down everywhere,” said team captain Geoff Ogilvy.

“This afternoon, the same thing happened. Team USA played so well all day. They played some really high-level foursomes, especially this afternoon.

“For the boys to somehow come back and pinch two points out of that and split the session was amazing.”

Sunday sees 12 singles games take place, with each side needing 15.5 points to seal victory.

The International team produced a brilliant fightback in the foursomes on day two of the Presidents Cup to take a 7-3 lead over the United States.

The US had been 3-2 up after the fourballs on Thursday but in a stunning turnaround were beaten in all five matches in the alternate-shot format in Medinah on Friday.

It boosted their hopes of a first victory in the event since 1998 and only a second since the competition began in 1994.

Geoff Ogilvy’s side secured their first point of the day as Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama saw off Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman 3&2.

Canadian duo Corey Conners and Nick Taylor then produced a stunning result as they held on to beat world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns by one hole.

Burns almost snatched a half when his 20-foot putt at the last lipped out.

Open champion Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee also edged a see-saw contest with Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark by one hole, before Adam Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout defeated Justin Thomas and Cameron Young 3&2.

Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim wrapped up the day with a dominant 4&3 victory over Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

There will be four further foursomes matches and four more fourballs on Saturday, with 12 singles games taking place on Sunday.