Recent developments in Hong Kong, including the new national security legislation, have raised questions about the region's freedoms and autonomy. The three speakers are:

Dr Heida Donegan - President of the Hong Kong New Zealand Business Association, member of the New Zealand China Council and a partner at Dentons Kensington Swan. Heida is an experienced corporate and commercial partner who heads their Asia Business team. With over 25 years’ experience as a cross-border investment specialist, Heida has extensive experience in working with clients across the globe in their investments into the Asia Pacific region by way of cross-border mergers and acquisitions and direct investments. Heida regularly advises clients on project development transactions.

Dr Jason Young is Director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre and Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied Chinese at Fu Jen University and Tunghai University in Taipei and Taichung and is a graduate of Otago University and Victoria University of Wellington. Jason’s research focuses on China’s domestic politics and foreign policy and New Zealand-China relations. He is author of China’s Hukou System (Palgrave 2013), the second edition of Politics in Pacific Asia (with Xiaoming Huang) and a number of journal articles and chapters in English and Chinese including articles in Pacific Review and Political Science. Jason is currently researching Chinese international relations writing on economic decoupling.

Felicity Roxburgh is the Director Business and Director of the Auckland office of the Asia New Zealand Foundation. She has over ten years’ experience in diplomacy, with a focus on advancing political, security and economic outcomes for New Zealand in Asia. As Acting Consul-General in Hong Kong she worked to develop connections between Hong Kong and New Zealand businesses and to help remove barriers to trade. In New York, Felicity served during New Zealand’s time on the UN Security Council, focusing particularly on peace and security issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region.

Moderator - Professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart, Director of the NZ Asia Institute

Natasha Hamilton-Hart is Professor in the Department of Management and International Business. She has a BA(Hons) from the University of Otago and a PhD from Cornell University. Natasha joined the University of Auckland in 2011, after teaching at the National University of Singapore for ten years and holding a postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian National University.

The talk will be held in Building 201N, Room 307, 10 Symonds Street, Auckland . https://www.google.com/maps/place/UoA+Building+201N/@-36.8512463,174.771696,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x51399b4e6f18c3f!8m2!3d-36.8512463!4d174.771696