Foreign Nationals Sought to Help CCP ‘Reverse Engineer’ US Tech, DOJ Says

(The Epoch Times)—Two foreign nationals indicted by a grand jury on charges of violating the U.S. Arms Export Controls Act had direct communications with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and intended to help enable the Chinese regime “reverse engineer” defense technology, according to court documents.

The Justice Department announced charges against John Miller, a UK citizen and U.S. lawful permanent resident, and Cui Guanghai, a Chinese citizen, on May 30.

Separate grand juries in California and Wisconsin returned indictments charging the men with stalking and harassing a Chinese pro-democracy activist and seeking to export arms for the benefit of the Chinese regime, respectively.

Cui and Miller were both arrested in April by Serbian authorities at the request of U.S. law enforcement, who are now seeking their extradition.

‘Wish List’

According to the Milwaukee indictment, Cui and Miller put together a “Christmas wish list” of defense technology in November and December 2023 that included cryptographic devices, hardware, radar, night vision goggles, “the armored plates [that] go on armored vehicles and tanks that the Yanks have,” military jet engines, handheld GPS units used by foot soldiers, and others.

By early 2024, Miller and Cui formed a group chat with an individual they enlisted to procure these items, and Miller had written that “they want a couple of each” to be able to “reverse engineer” the technology, the indictment states.

Miller relayed to this individual that the Chinese regime was willing to pay double or triple for these items, according to the indictment.

“They want the complete list but bear in mind this is just the top items, their list has hundreds of items, too many to list but I’m [sic] reality they are looking for almost anything they can get their hands on,” Miller sent in one message, according to the indictment. “Their pockets on this are very deep, it’s the holy grail for us if we can facilitate.”

“For the newest stinger they’re offering 50,000 USD,” reads one message noted in court documents. Another offered $200,000 for a set of black bee drones, $900,000 for an AGM-88E anti-radiation missile, and $2 million for an AN-MPQ-64 air defense radar. Cui allegedly wrote in messages that the Chinese buyer also wanted software and intelligence information, things that “will be easy to handover.” He reiterated in various messages that the requests he conveyed were on behalf of his buyer, the indictment states.

In March, the individual sent Cui a photo of a cryptographic device, and Cui said his contact was interested if they could also obtain the keys, court documents states.

“They were asking if those equipment have the keys. I think those keys issued by the military … it’s a kind of code to connect the GPS and the satellite,” Cui wrote, according to the court documents. “If the equipment with the encryption keys, my guys are very interested … The equipment worth good money money [sic] with the keys.” They then allegedly discussed transferring a payment.

In a separate video call between the two defendants and two individuals, Cui inquired after other encryption keys, explaining that “China is not an ally of NATO” or the United States, so this technology was usually hard to ship there, according to the indictment.

He allegedly said it was “impossible for anyone in China to get that stuff.” They discussed hiding the device inside a computer, among car parts, or inside a blender to ship to Hong Kong in order to get it into China, the indictment alleges.

The defendants do not have any lawyers listed in the court documents, and The Epoch Times has attempted to reach Serbian authorities for more information.

Transnational Repression

A separate court document filed in April detailed Cui and Miller’s relationship with CCP officials.

According to an affidavit declared by an FBI special agent, Miller had gone to Beijing and Liaoning to meet with officials in June 2023, including someone he said was the governor of Liaoning Province in China, a “main” contact that he claimed reported to people higher up in the CCP, and two higher level officials.

The affidavit notes that Miller claimed that he had been “promoted” during the June 2023 trip, during which he was asked to outline “all his capabilities and work to date, which Miller stated amounted to 35 pages.”

FBI agents in Milwaukee notified their Los Angeles counterparts in October 2023 when Cui and Miller engaged an individual to harass a China democracy activist and try to prevent them from protesting CCP leader Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November 2023.

A grand jury in California charged Cui and Miller with interstate stalking and conspiracy, alleging the two men plotted enlisted others to surveil the victim, install a tracking device in the victim’s car, slash their tires, and destroy a pair of statues the victim had made of Xi and Xi’s wife.

The statues showed Xi and his wife kneeling and shirtless, and the intended victim had put up a picture on social media with the statues in a large, Times Square advertisement.

The individual Cui and Miller had enlisted to harass the intended victim was an FBI source, who recorded the phone calls with the defendants, court documents show. According to a transcript of one call, the individual suggested the plan to put the intended victim in a wheelchair was “overkill.”

“Like the guy put statues and protested. You know what I mean?” he said, according to the documents.

Miller allegedly said he agreed, but “it’s all about what the big fella wants. It’s all about face.”

In one call, Miller said his superior wanted the victim surveilled for months, and Xi’s visit was incidental, the court documents show. “Xi just happens to be coming. The boss is coming that’s it. Apart from that they want to try to get something on him, they want to know what he’s doing. You know?” he said.

Miller enlisted the individual to assault the victim, discussing use of bullets, a baseball bat, or an ice pick “on the knees and ankles” and photographing the victim after, according to the DOJ. He and the individual referred to the Liaoning Province official as “second in command.”

“It’s gotta be sanctioned by somebody,” Miller said in one phone call, according to the court documents “Probably somebody from Beijing. The big boss.”