Wai Lin

Wai Lin (Chinese 林慧) is a fictional character in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, portrayed by Michelle Yeoh. The character has received critical acclaim, being widely regarded as one of the best Bond girls in the series.

Appearances

Wai Lin is a spy for the Chinese People's External Security Force in the rank of colonel and skilled in martial arts. She first encounters Bond when she is sent (under the disguise as a Xinhua News Agency reporter) to investigate the disappearance of stealth material from a People's Liberation Army base that is connected to media mogul Elliot Carver's plan to start a war between the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom. She later learns that Bond was sent by MI-6 to work on the same case. The two initially believe they have been ordered to kill each other, but eventually develop a wary mutual trust when they are both captured and imprisoned by Carver's secret partner, General Chang (who was in charge of the military base where the stolen stealth materials for Carver's stealth boat originated from). Bond especially grows to respect her when she playfully, but firmly, rejects his attempts at seduction. Carver brings them both aboard his private ship to gloat that he will control the world's media after he gets exclusive coverage rights to the impending war, which will begin when the ship launches missiles at a British craft. At the last minute, however, Wai breaks free and creates a distraction that allows Bond to disable the missiles, kill Carver, and escape with her as the ship self-destructs. She and Bond then give in to the mutual attraction they had both been fighting during the mission, and become lovers.