Chinese man studying in Canada arrested by US for spy-like activities, sister says: ‘If my brother is a Chinese spy, then I am Trump’s father’

A Chinese student studying at a Canadian university was arrested in the United States after American authorities accused him of taking photographs at airports and cargo facilities at the request of a person allegedly connected to the Chinese government.Weiheng Zeng, an undergraduate at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, was arrested in Michigan on August 23 after crossing the Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the United States.Zeng has been accused of making false statements to federal authorities. He has not been charged with espionage and the allegations contained in an FBI affidavit have not been proven in court.The case began with an incident at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in April.According to an affidavit filed in a Michigan court, a man was seen taking photos at a FedEx loading facility on April 21. The man allegedly got on a forklift and attempted to open locked trailers.Investigators later linked the incident to a dark blue minivan with Ontario license plates. Approximately four months later, on August 23, Zeng attempted to enter the United States again in the same vehicle. Border agents took him aside and questioned him before FBI agents intervened.What followed were three interviews in which, according to the affidavit, Zeng gave investigators increasingly detailed and contradictory accounts of what he had been doing.Initially, Zeng said he had traveled to Chicago to photograph airplanes. He had told U.S. customs officials that he was visiting his sister.

Various photos of airplanes and military aircraft by phone.

Agents searching his phone allegedly found photographs of airplanes, including military aircraft. They also found photographs of Zeng and others wearing tactical clothing and holding rifle-type firearms.Zeng told investigators the weapons were airsoft guns and said he had been photographing model airplanes for a flight tracking website. He also denied having had military training.During a later interview, he allegedly said that he had photographed planes landing at O’Hare from a public parking lot. He later admitted that he went to the FedEx facility and got on a forklift to take photographs.The affidavit also alleges that Zeng had previously invaded a FedEx facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada, where he was captured.But investigators say the most significant details emerged during a third interview.

Chinese contact contacted through a website for aviation enthusiasts

Zeng allegedly told them that a Chinese contact had approached him through a website used by aviation enthusiasts and asked him to photograph specific aircraft. The contact provided the tail numbers of the planes and allegedly paid him between $20 and $30 for each photo.According to the affidavit, the contact also sent SIM cards to Zeng to use for communications. Zeng said he would destroy the cards and delete conversations and photos after completing the tasks.He told investigators he had accepted assignments at O’Hare and Pearson, but turned down requests to photograph locations in Orlando and Las Vegas.The Chinese contact initially presented the assignments as aviation “research,” and Zeng was allegedly told to photograph rare aircraft.But investigators say Zeng eventually acknowledged that the plane explanation was a cover-up.The contact was supposedly interested in transportation logistics and photographs of specific locations around airports.Zeng also allegedly told the FBI that the contact had sent him a photo of a license plate and videos showing scenes that appeared accessible only to security officials.According to the affidavit, Zeng had been communicating with the contact for about three months starting in late 2024. He said the person finally asked him for “help” and he agreed because he thought it was “cool.”The alleged payments were made through transfers to a Bank of China account, the affidavit says. Investigators also discovered that the online forum where Zeng said he met the contact apparently did not exist.

“If my brother is a Chinese spy, then I am Trump’s father”

Zeng’s sister denied accusations that her brother is knowingly involved in espionage for Beijing. “If my brother is a Chinese spy, then I am Trump’s father,” Meixuan Wang wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.Wang told the Globe and Mail that his brother is simply obsessed with airplanes and has autism spectrum disorder.