William Lai Ching-te

Force in Play

In office; his son was the surveillance target

Wanying Zhang pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles federal court on October 23 to charges that she surveilled the Seattle-area family of Taiwan President William Lai's son for China. The judge set a pretrial hearing for November 12 and a four-day trial starting November 30 at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.

Updated Oct 26

Force in Play

Active

China imposed sanctions Monday on Paraguay's communications minister and Belize's foreign minister. Their assets in China are frozen, and they're barred from entering Hong Kong and Macau. Beijing said the ministers pushed their countries to keep diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.

Updated Oct 12