Alleged Chinese agent Wanying Zhang pleads not guilty in Los Angeles courtroom

A Southern California realtor accused of being a Chinese foreign agent pleaded not guilty to the allegations in a Los Angeles federal courtroom Friday.

Wanying Zhang, 34, appeared in a white jumpsuit and shackles, speaking only to deny charges that she surveilled the Taiwanese president’s son in a Seattle suburb in September 2025.

The plea puts the case on track for a trial that will require the Justice Department to lay out its evidence of the allegations she conspired with Chinese intelligence officials for what prosecutors called a spy mission. 

She was arrested earlier this month at L.A. International Airport while attempting to board a flight to China. She has been charged with one count of acting in the U.S. as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government. 

Zhang’s husband, Edric Ding, had appeared in earlier court hearings. The couple have been realtors together at the same firm in Irvine, California. 

But Ding did not appear at the short hearing on Friday. This is after prosecutors claimed in a recent court filing that Zhang was having an affair with a man who accompanied her on the alleged surveillance mission to Washington state last year. CBS has identified him as Fatai Miao, a construction entrepreneur who recently left Southern California on a one-way ticket to China.

Miao’s son told CBS News he does not believe his father was working for the Chinese government, and Miao has not been charged with any crime.

The judge set a pretrial hearing for Nov. 12. The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 30 at a federal courthouse in Santa Ana, California, and will last an estimated four days. 

Both prosecutors and Zhang’s attorney, Craig Harbaugh, declined to comment on Friday.