BREAKING: U.S. Charges Chinese and British Nationals in FBI Sting Over Harassment of Xi Critic in Los Angeles — Echoes Broader CCP-Linked Violence at San Francisco APEC Summit

LOS ANGELES — Serbian authorities have arrested two foreign nationals, Cui Guanghai, 43, of China, and John Miller, 63, of the United Kingdom, at the request of the United States, federal officials announced Thursday.

The arrests come as the U.S. Justice Department unsealed a criminal complaint alleging that Cui and Miller orchestrated an interstate conspiracy to harass, intimidate, and threaten a Los Angeles-based activist critical of Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to court documents, beginning in October 2023, the two men recruited individuals inside the United States to surveil and target the activist, who had publicly opposed Xi and the Chinese Communist Party.

Federal prosecutors allege the plot aimed to prevent the activist from protesting during Xi’s appearance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November 2023. In a twist, the individuals Cui and Miller believed they had enlisted—referred to in court filings as Individual 1 and Individual 2—were secretly affiliated with and operating under the direction of the FBI.

In the weeks leading up to the summit, Cui and Miller allegedly directed the undercover agents to install a tracking device on the activist’s car, slash the vehicle’s tires, and purchase and destroy two artistic statues created by the activist depicting Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan. When the activist later announced plans to unveil a new set of sculptures via an online broadcast in the spring of 2025, Cui and Miller allegedly paid $36,500 to two more individuals—also undercover FBI operatives—to pressure the activist to cancel the event.

The case emerges against a wider backdrop of rising concern over political violence linked to Xi's visit to the United States. During the November 2023 APEC summit in San Francisco, pro-Xi groups clashed with democracy activists at major locations including San Francisco International Airport, the Moscone Center, and the St. Regis Hotel. Human rights organizations and protesters accused pro-Beijing groups of launching coordinated physical assaults against demonstrators opposing Chinese human rights abuses, Tibet’s occupation, and Taiwan’s independence movement.

In interviews following the summit, activists described a series of violent incidents involving metal rods, flagpoles, pepper spray, and targeted attacks. Tibetan student leaders reported dozens of injuries, while figures like Li Delong, a member of the Chinese Democracy Party’s Los Angeles committee, said they were physically assaulted near APEC venues.

The Justice Department’s complaint against Cui and Miller adds new weight to growing concerns that China’s campaign to silence dissent is not limited to coordinated protests, but extends into covert, organized harassment on U.S. soil. Both defendants face a maximum of five years in federal prison for conspiracy and another five years for interstate stalking if convicted.

The latest charges also echo a chilling earlier case involving Chinese dissident sculptor Chen Weiming. In 2021, Chen unveiled a provocative artwork in California’s Mojave Desert, titled "CCP Virus," which depicted Xi Jinping’s face merging into a coronavirus molecule. The piece was mysteriously burned to the ground within weeks. A subsequent FBI counterintelligence investigation revealed that the destruction was not a random act of vandalism, but part of a broader campaign orchestrated by individuals connected to Chinese intelligence services to surveil, intimidate, and neutralize critics of the Chinese government.

That investigation led to federal charges against Chinese operatives and exposed a sprawling transnational repression effort reaching into the United States.