US judge blocks release of alleged Beijing agent accused of filming Taiwan leader’s son

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Wanying “Heather” Zhang be held in custody, after her lawyers – who had fought to keep her out of jail – said she “looks forward to establishing” her innocence at trial.

They argued that the US government’s case centred on a single day of alleged surveillance in Seattle and was not evidence that she posed a flight risk.

US Magistrate Judge Steve Kim sided with prosecutors, who told him that Zhang’s parents and siblings lived in China and that her brother had a history of working with the Chinese government.

“The alleged surveillance began and ended on a single day, September 1, 2025,” Zhang’s lawyers wrote in a brief opposing her continued detention. The government’s complaint, they said, “charges a single violation” of the unregistered-agent statute arising from that day in Seattle.