IN FOCUS: A string of cases spotlights Beijing spy claims

ESPIONAGE OPERATIONS: Prosecutors said a former New York aide tried to fool Tsai Ing-wen, while British intelligence warned of Chinese-linked political funding

• By William Hetherington / Staff writer, with CNA

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Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) alleged affair with a suspected Chinese spy has drawn attention to a broader pattern of Chinese women accused of espionage or influence operations in the US, UK and Philippines over the past few years.

The women allegedly posed as real-estate agents, lawyers, government aides and even mayors, using business connections, political donations or public office to advance Beijing’s political and intelligence-gathering objectives.

Last month, the FBI arrested Wanying “Heather” Zhang (張婉瑩), a real-estate agent in Irvine, California, as she prepared to board a flight to Shanghai.

A surveillance camera is silhouetted behind a People’s Republic of China flag in Beijing on Nov. 3, 2022.

Photo: Reuters

The US Department of Justice accused Zhang of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government and conducting surveillance in the US, at the direction of Chinese officials, on the son of President William Lai (賴清德), Lai Ting-yu (賴廷與).

Zhang allegedly accepted a surveillance assignment from Chinese officials in June last year, a federal indictment said. In September that year, she and an accomplice traveled to Seattle, where they allegedly followed Lai Ting-yu outside his home, took photographs and videos, recorded vehicle license plate information and sent the material to Chinese officials, the indictment said.

Prosecutors also said that Zhang was allegedly tasked by Beijing with gathering information about an address in Irvine associated with a “publicly anti-communist Taiwanese elected official.”

Zhang this month pleaded not guilty in federal court in Los Angeles to charges including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of China. The case is ongoing.

In another case, Linda Sun (孫雯), a former senior aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and former governor Andrew Cuomo, was in 2024 arrested by the FBI. US authorities also arrested her husband, Chris Hu (胡驍).

Prosecutors accused Sun of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She also faces charges including conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent, visa fraud and money laundering. Hu was charged with money laundering, bank fraud and tax evasion.

While working in US state government, Sun allegedly obstructed efforts by Taiwanese officials to meet with New York state officials, prosecutors said.

During then-president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) transit through New York in 2019, Sun allegedly withheld an invitation from Taiwanese officials asking state government representatives to attend a banquet. Instead, she allegedly told the Taiwanese officials that state representatives had other commitments that day and informed Chinese officials that she had “blocked” the arrangements.

Sun also attended a protest organized by Chinese community groups during a banquet held while Tsai was in New York.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sun arranged for Chinese officials to meet with state government representatives, prosecutors said. When New York was facing a shortage of face masks, she allegedly encouraged the governor to publicly praise China for supplying medical equipment to New York City, while making no mention of Taiwan’s donation of 200,000 masks to the city, they said.

Sun and her husband allegedly received benefits from China in exchange for her assistance, prosecutors said, adding that they allegedly used the proceeds to acquire properties on Long Island and in Hawaii, as well as luxury vehicles.

In December last year, a federal jury in New York was unable to reach a verdict on the charges against the couple, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek a retrial.

In a separate case, the UK’s MI5 in 2022 issued a rare public warning alleging that Chinese-born lawyer Christine Lee (李貞駒) had links to the United Front Work Department of the CCP Central Committee.

Lee was accused of using funds from China and Hong Kong to finance British political parties and politicians.

MI5 also said that she allegedly pursued a long-term strategy of cultivating promising political figures.

Lee denied the allegations and filed a legal challenge against MI5. However, the British Investigatory Powers Tribunal upheld MI5’s decision to issue the warning in 2024, ruling that publicly identifying Lee had been necessary.

Lee has not faced criminal charges.

Separately, in the Philippines, a woman identifying herself as Alice Guo (郭華萍) was elected mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, in May 2022, and in 2024, she was investigated over alleged links to offshore gambling operations, human trafficking and scam compounds. Philippine senators questioned whether she was a Chinese spy or a Philippine citizen.

The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation subsequently compared her fingerprints with existing records and discovered that Guo had entered the Philippines in October 2003, when she was in her early teens, using a Chinese passport. Investigators determined that she was a Chinese citizen, and she was removed from office as mayor.

Guo later refused to attend hearings into her alleged connections with Chinese criminal organizations, prompting the Philippine Senate to issue an arrest warrant. She subsequently went missing.

In 2024, she was arrested in Indonesia and extradited to Manila. Last year, she was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking.