On Thursday evening, April 24, 2025, around 10:00 PM, Serbian police arrested Chinese citizen Cui Guanghai and Briton John Miller at the Hyatt Hotel in Belgrade.
Both were detained on an international warrant issued at the request of the USA, whose authorities accuse them of organizing the persecution and intimidation of Chinese artist Hui Bo in California. Hui Bo, who lives in the USA, created provocative sculptures that mocked and insulted Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, BIRN reports.
The U.S. Department of Justice immediately praised the response of the Serbian authorities the very next day, April 25, and announced that it would formally request the extradition of the two arrested individuals to the USA.
The ministry’s statement also mentioned that the two accused, if found guilty, face a sentence of about four to five years in prison for the crime of persecution. However, the case quickly became more complex, as several other criminal offenses were attributed to them.
On May 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that two separate indictments had been filed against Cui Guanghai, also known as “Jack,” and John Miller: one in California for persecuting Chinese artist Hui Bo, and another in Wisconsin for attempted illegal trade in U.S. military equipment and its smuggling into China, for which the maximum penalty is up to 20 years in prison. BIRN had access to both indictments, as well as to the criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent on April 11, which together expose a serious and multilayered conspiracy in which the suspects acted on behalf of Chinese authorities.
The indictments reveal that Guanghai and Miller coordinated actions and made plans with several people, who would later be identified as undercover FBI agents.
Cui Guanghai was born in 1981 in China’s Anhui province. He is listed in the indictment as a person who uses multiple identities and passports. Before his arrest in Belgrade, he traveled through Hungary and several European countries. U.S. authorities claim he is connected to the Chinese military.
It was clear at first glance that they were not ordinary fugitives on an Interpol warrant. According to FBI documents seen by BIRN, Cui Guanghai is connected to Chinese authorities and acted on their orders.
Just one day after the arrest in Belgrade, the Chinese government reacted at the highest level, BIRN learned. According to BIRN’s information, Chinese Ambassador Li Ming first spoke with Minister of Internal Affairs Ivica Dačić, and that conversation was described as very unpleasant. The ambassador protested the arrest, emphasized that China had done a lot for Serbia and that it was not right to be repaid in this way, and that the arrested Cui Guanghai was of great importance to the Chinese state leadership. Unofficially, the Serbian Minister of Police directed the ambassador to the President of the State, Aleksandar Vučić. BIRN received information about the conversation between the ambassador and Dačić on April 27, two days after the alleged conversation.
Minister Dačić, responding to BIRN’s questions, said that the meeting with the Chinese ambassador was about ten days after the arrest and that it was not unpleasant.
“Every country is interested in its citizens, and that is normal. This is now a matter for the judiciary and has nothing to do with the Ministry of Internal Affairs anymore. We told this to all interested parties,” Dačić replied, adding that President Vučić has no connection to the case. “And why would we direct anyone to him?”
What followed was a true “charm offensive”: in the following days, Vučić and the Chinese ambassador appeared together on several occasions on April 28 and 29, visiting infrastructure works and projects across Serbia. At these meetings, the Chinese diplomat appeared visibly in good spirits.
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Source: Birn, Photo: THOMAS ANDRE FURE / SHUTTERSTOCK