With nations unable to obtain essential supplies including PPE amidst the pandemic, import security has come to be seen as a national security concern.

Nations have already sought to shorten supply chains and to boost national resilience.  In the UK, this has taken the form of Project DEFEND a new national initiative to increase domestic supplies of goods critical to national security.

Nowhere is this concern more concentrated than on imports from China.  As China increasingly threatens the rules-based international order, reliance on it becomes an ever greater security concern.

In May, Bob Seely and Andrew Hastie MP wrote — alongside other parliamentarians — for HJS on how to decouple from strategic dependency on China.   In this event they will discuss whether the West should begin to decouple from strategic economic ties with China and how it might be done.

Joining them to discuss this issue for this HJS webinar will be Pascal Lamy — two time WTO Director General — whose expertise in global trade is unrivalled.  Together, they’ll explore security concerns, the global trade landscape, and the limitations on how the West might respond.

Andrew Hastie MP

Member of the Australian Parliament, representing the electorate of Canning in the House of Representatives.

Also chairman of the Australian Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

Completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History and Philosophy through the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

In 2006, Hastie graduated officer training at the Royal Military College, Duntroon. In 2009, Hastie deployed to Afghanistan as a Cavalry Troop Leader. In 2010, he was selected for service with the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) as a Troop Commander), taking commands in maritime and special reconnaissance capabilities. He deployed to Afghanistan again in 2013 as a Troop Commander with the Australian Special Operations Task Group.

During his service with the SASR, he deployed to various theatres in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific. Hastie resigned from the ADF in 2015 to successfully contest the Canning by-election for the Liberal Party of Australia.

Hastie was re-elected in the general elections of 2016 and 2019. Since 2017 Hastie has served as Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. His work has focused on espionage and foreign influence. Noteworthy legislation passed during his Chairmanship has included the Espionage and Foreign Interference Act (2018) Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act (2018).

Pascal Lamy

Served two terms as Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from September 2005 to September 2013.

Graduated from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) and the Ecole Nationale d’ Administration (ENA).

Began his career in the French civil service at the General Inspectorate of Finance and at the Treasury. In 1981 he became advisor of the Minister of Economy and Finance, Jacques Delors, then Deputy Head of Prime Minister’s Pierre Mauroy cabinet in 1983.

Between 1985 and 1994, Lamy was Head of the President of the European Commission’s Cabinet, Jacques Delors, and its “sherpa” at the G- 7.

In 1994, he joined the team in charge of the recovery of the French bank Crédit Lyonnais then becoming its CEO up to its privatization in 1999. He then returned to the European Commission having been appointed as Commissioner for Trade under the presidency of Romano Prodi.

Bob Seely MP

Bob Seely is the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight.  He is the co-ordinator of the Huawei Interest Group, a 60-strong group of Conservative MPs who first assembled to express concern about Huawei’s role in UK telecoms networks.  He is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

He first worked as a foreign correspondent in Eastern Europe for four years for The Times newspaper. During his time in the former USSR, Bob reported from most of the Union republics / new nations of the USSR: Russia (including Moscow, European Russia and Siberia) Ukraine (including Crimea), Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenian (including Nagorny Karabakh), Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

From 2008 onwards, Bob served in the UK Armed Forces.  He was mobilised or placed on Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) for nearly a decade until his selection as a parliamentary candidate in the 2017 election at which time he resigned his full-time service and returned to the Army Reserve.

You can RSVP for your tickets HERE