Events

Hong Kong was once the freest economy in the world. But the rule of law that underpinned its success is now being rapidly dismantled by the Chinese Communist Party. In recent years, the city has emerged as a host to leading violators of international sanctions, a money laundering hub, and a transshipment centre that plays a key role in providing Russia dual-use technology for its war effort.

Experts will discuss evidence of how Hong Kong-based companies are using the region’s relaxed regulatory environment to help sell weapons inputs and other sanctioned products to countries like Russia, Iran, and North Korea, and what Canada, the United Kingdom and United States can do to better counter these illicit activities.

Host:

Neil Coyle MP, Chair of Labour Friends of Hong Kong, Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption & Responsible Tax, and All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong.

Speakers:

Shannon Van Sant is a Strategy and Public Affairs Advisor for the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, where she advises on the foundation’s development, government relations, and public affairs campaigns, and leads the foundation’s work in Canada. Ms. Van Sant is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing data-driven analysis and evidence-based reporting on global conflict and transnational security issues. Previously Ms. Van Sant worked as a journalist for nearly 20 years and lived for 11 of those years in Beijing and Hong Kong. She reported on the ground across 20 provinces and regions in China, and throughout Sub-Saharan and East Africa, filming documentaries on humanitarian issues, including the migration routes of North Korean refugees. Ms. Van Sant has been honored with a Human Rights Press Award from Amnesty International and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong, and in 2014 she reported on Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. Her recent open-source research and analysis have focused on technology and national security, and she has advised government and private clients on foreign malign influence and political interference from Iran, the Kremlin, and the Chinese Communist Party.

Dr Theo Zenou is a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. He has a PhD in history at Cambridge University,  where he taught undergraduates, and Masters in history from the University of Edinburgh. He has been a Theodore Sorensen Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and a Visiting Researcher at Boston University. Theo’s research at HJS spans across various topics in the Centre for Resilient Society, including political violence, UK prison system reform, and nuclear energy. He has written features, essays and reviews for The Washington Post, The Economist, FT, The Guardian, The Times, Foreign Policy, The Spectator, The Boston Globe on world politics, culture and business. Prior to his doctorate, he worked in TV for several years.

Dr Maria Nizzero is the Principal, Head of Sanctions Policy at UK Finance. Maria was formerly a Research Fellow at the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI, where her research examined the UK, EU and global financial crime landscape, asset recovery and sanctions, and the foreign policy dimension of illicit finance. Maria holds a PhD in International Public Law and International Relations from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where she was also Associate Professor for four years.