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2019 Halifax International Security Forum

2019 Halifax International Security Forum

Date
November 22-24, 2019
Location
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Participants
300

Agenda & Speakers

Friday, November 22
Saturday, November 23
Sunday, November 24

15:00-15:30

Welcome On the record

Mr. Peter Van Praagh, President, Halifax International Security Forum

Opening Remarks On the record

The Hon. Harjit Singh Sajjan, Minister of National Defence, Canada 

2019 is a year of anniversaries. One hundred years ago, the Treaty of Versailles was signed and the ‘War to end all Wars’ was over. In reality, the seeds were planted for a conflict far worse. Seventy-five years ago, the Second World War would take young Canadian men from their homeland to fight and die on the beaches of Normandy – alongside British and American allies. And thirty years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, ending the Cold War and ushering in a new era of peace and democracy. But democracy is in peril and large belligerent states, like Russia and China, seek to disrupt the international rules based order. At every turn, we think the job is done. But it isn’t.

Halifax International Security Forum President Peter Van Praagh opened this year’s Forum, noting this weekend will provide an opportunity for all to reassess the global situation in 2019. Are we able to work together to restore and spread democracy? Are our global institutions still up to the task? Are we? The dialogue continues in Halifax.

Canada is not immune from a rapidly changing world in which internal conflicts, climate change, and technological threats, are the new norm. All the while, some of our allies undermine alliances, treaties and the international rules-based system. This was the backdrop to Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan’s remarks about the new and grave challenges to Canada and the world at the start of the 2019 Halifax International Security Forum. Threats to the Canadian way of life cannot be met head-on solely by the military. The private sector, think-tanks and citizens all have a role to play in defending the values we hold dear. Sajjan emphasized Canada’s commitment to multilateralism and noted his willingness to work with the country’s friends and allies – many represented at the Forum this weekend – for the security of Canada and the world.

“Freedom and democracy cannot be taken for granted in any country at any time”

— Mr. Peter Van Praagh, President, Halifax International Security Forum

“We host this forum every year because we believe that we are stronger together”

— he Hon. Harjit Sajjan, Minister of National Defence, Canada

15:30-16:30

Plenary 1: Revolutions of Our Time: Freedom Without US On the record

Speakers

Member, Homeland Security Experts Group
Moderator
Ms. Jeanne Meserve

Ms. Jeanne Meserve

Ms. Jeanne Meserve is a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group and the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity. She moderates on a wide array of topics for groups including the Munich Security Conference, AtlanticLIVE, the International Women’s Forum, the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the American Red Cross. She speaks on topics including communication, media and election security, and has provided communication coaching to leaders of corporations, educational institutions, non-profit organizations and government. As an anchor and correspondent for CNN and ABC News Jeanne Meservewon two Emmy Awards, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and contributed to two Peabody Awards.

Contributing Editor, The Atlantic; Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Professor Yascha Mounk

Professor Yascha Mounk

Professor Yascha Mounk is a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, an Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, a Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, and a Senior Advisor at Protect Democracy. The host of The Good Fight podcast, his latest book is The People vs Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is In Danger and How to Save It.

Director, China Institute, School for Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Professor Steve Tsang

Professor Steve Tsang

Professor Steve Tsang is Director of the SOAS China Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies University of London. He is also an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony’s College at Oxford, and an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).

Steve regularly contributes to public debates on different aspects of issues related to the politics, history, foreign policy, security and development of the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and East Asia more generally. He is known in particular for introducing the concept of ‘consultative Leninism’ as an analytical framework to understand the structure and nature of politics in contemporary China. He has a broad area of research interest and has published extensively, including five single authored and thirteen collaborative books. He is starting a new project on ‘The Political Thought of Xi Jinping’.

Executive Director (fmr.), Tahrir Institute
Dr. Nancy Okail

Dr. Nancy Okail

Dr. Nancy Okail is the Executive Director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. She holds a Ph.D., with a focus on power relations of foreign aid, from the University of Sussex in the UK. Prior to joining TIMEP, she was country director of Freedom House’s Egypt program. She has twenty years’ experience in promoting democracy and development in the Middle East/North Africa region. Dr. Okail has worked with the Egyptian government as a senior evaluation officer of foreign aid and has managed programs for Egyptian pro-democracy organizations that challenged the Mubarak regime. She was also one of the defendants convicted and sentenced to prison in the widely publicized case of 43 nongovernmental organization workers charged with using foreign funds to foment unrest in Egypt.

Deputy Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, National Assembly Venezuela and Ambassador of Venezuela to France
Ambassador Isadora Zubillaga

Ambassador Isadora Zubillaga

Ambassador Isadora Zubillaga is Deputy Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, National Assembly, Venezuela and Ambassador of Venezuela to France. She has experience in the private sector, in Non-Governmental Organizations and in the public sector. She has served as Coordinator in Human Rights projects of the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation and International Coordinator of NYC2010, under the leadership of Michael Bloomberg. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the French Alliance of Caracas and International Director of the Mayor’s Office of Chacao, together with Mayor Leopoldo López. She is a founding member of Voluntad Popular Party and she was an international representative of the Venezuelan opposition. She lives in Europe since 2014. She was designated by President Juan Guaidó and the National Assembly of Venezuela as International Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to France, on February 19, 2019 and as Deputy Commissioner for Foreign Affairs on September 2019.

All around the world, democracy is retreating as authoritarian regimes gain ground. From Hong Kong to Venezuela, from Chile to Lebanon, protesters are not willing to let freedom and democracy go without a fight. The first plenary session of the 2019 Halifax International Security Forum began by asking: what role should the United States, and the broader international community, play as this crisis of democracy unfolds?

Isadora Zubilaga believes the international community has an indispensable role to play. The breakdown of democracy in one country can spread beyond its borders. But rocking the boat can have undesired outcomes. How long can emerging dictatorships sustain their legitimacy? Yascha Mounk asserts it’s up to citizens who have the courage to raise their voices. And with protests in Hong Kong raging, leaders of the world continue to scratch their heads on whether to take a stand or watch from the sidelines.

“You are not powerful by the status of your economy and army. You’re only as powerful as your ability to use that power”

— Dr. Nancy Okail, Executive Director (fmr.), Tahrir Institute

“We are starting to see that the leaders who claimed to give power back to the people are actually just concentrating it in their own hands”

— Mr. Yascha Mounk, Contributing Editor, The Atlantic

“Venezuela is an example of how a democracy was used to destroy democracy”

— Ambassador Isadora Zubillaga, Deputy Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, National Assembly, Venezuela

“The policies Xi Jinping has put in place will result in the destruction of Hong Kong as we know it”

— Professor Steve Tsang, Director, China Institute, School for Oriental and African Studies, University of London

16:30-17:00

Coffee Break

17:00-18:00

Plenary 2: Values Trade: Our Way or the Huawei On the record

Speakers

Editor, Foreign Affairs; Peter G. Peterson Chair, Council on Foreign Relations
Moderator
Dr. Gideon Rose

Dr. Gideon Rose

Dr. Gideon Rose is the Editor of Foreign Affairs. He assumed this role in 2010 after serving as Managing Editor of the magazine from 2000-2010. Prior to that he was Deputy Director of Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and from 1994-1995 he served as Associate Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. He received a BA in Classics from Yale and a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard, and has taught American foreign policy at Princeton and Columbia. He is the author of How Wars End (Simon & Schuster, 2010) and other works.

Columnist, Foreign Policy and National Security, The Washington Post
Mr. Josh Rogin

Mr. Josh Rogin

Mr. Josh Rogin is a columnist for the Global Opinions section of the Washington Post and a political analyst with CNN. Previously, he has covered foreign policy and national security for Bloomberg View, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Foreign Policy magazine, Congressional Quarterly, Federal Computer Week magazine, and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. He was a 2011 finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and the 2011 recipient of the Interaction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. Josh holds a BA in international affairs from the George Washington University and studied at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. He lives in Washington, DC.

Commandant, United States Coast Guard
Admiral Karl Schultz

Admiral Karl Schultz

Admiral Karl L. Schultz has served as the 26th Commandant of the United States Coast Guard since June 1, 2018. He previously served from August 2016 to May 2018 as Commander, Atlantic Area where he was the operational commander for all Coast Guard missions spanning five Coast Guard Districts and 40 states. He concurrently served as Director, DHS Joint Task Force-East, responsible for achieving the objectives of the DHS Southern Border and Approaches Campaign Plan throughout the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Region, including Central America. Admiral Schultz graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1983, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. In 1992, he was awarded a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Connecticut, and in 2006, completed a one-year National Security Fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Member, House of Lords
Lady Pauline Neville-Jones

Lady Pauline Neville-Jones

Right Honourable Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones DCMG is a Conservative peer in the UK House of Lords and chair of the advisory board to Cyber Security Challenge. She is a member of the Joint House of Lords and Commons Committee on the UK National Security Strategy and was previously a member of the Lords Science and Technology Committee and of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. She was David Cameron’s National Security Adviser before he became Prime Minister, and in his coalition government she was Minister for Security and Counter Terrorism and a member of the National Security Council. She was the Prime Minister’s Special Representative to business for cyber security until 2014 and chaired a panel advising the Bank of England on cyber security. After leaving government she was chairman of the defence technology company QinetiQ, has been a Governor of the BBC and a member of the Councils of City and Oxford Universities and is currently on Lancaster University Council.

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Democratic Party, and Former Chairperson, Democratic Party, Hong Kong
Ms. Emily Lau

Ms. Emily Lau

Ms. Emily Lau Wai-hing is a Former Chairperson of the Democratic Party and current Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Democratic Party. She champions press freedom and human rights. A former journalist, she became the first woman directly elected on the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in the 1991 LegCo elections. Ms. Lau was a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council from 1991 to 1997 and 1998 to 2016. She was Chairperson of the Democratic Party from 2012 to 2016. She is a member of the Board of Directors, China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group and the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education. Ms. Lau received the Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Award from the Bruno Kreisky Foundation in Vienna in 1998, the Monismanien Prize on Freedom of Speech from the University of Uppsala in Sweden in 2003, and the Political Leader Award from The Hong Kong Women’s Foundation in 2009.

Almost thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world is in the midst of a new Cold War. But unlike the Soviet challenge, China threatens the west in more than just the ideological sense. It rivals the political and economic influence that we have spent decades building across the globe. As China continuously challenges the West on numerous frontiers, is the world watching?

All people of the world aspire to liberal democracy, right? What’s better than people choosing who will lead them? Unfortunately, many democracies’ reach exceed their grasp when it comes to facing global challenges and threats. How can a democracy begin to think strategically when every four years, the main players and plans could change? China, with it’s one party, one leader, and tight grip on the diplomatic, information, military, and economic levers is not only strengthening itself, but subverting democracies of the world. From cheap goods, 5G technology, to Huawei phones, it’s time we turn off silent mode and listen to the alerts.

“We are not going to die in Hong Kong my friends, and I hope that you won’t let us die”

— Ms. Emily Lau, Former Chairperson, Democratic Party, and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Democratic Party, Hong Kong

“From the Chinese side, it’s all one strategy. We have to start thinking in those terms to formulate ours”

— Mr. Josh Rogin, Columnist, Foreign Policy and National Security, The Washington Post

“The US has to decide: does it want to beat it’s allies over the head, or does it want to share?”

— Lady Pauline Neville-Jones, Member, House of Lords

“People have to recognize that China will have greater arctic strength than the US. We need to be cognizant of that”

— Admiral Karl Schultz, Commandant, United States Coast Guard

“China got here by going out and appropriating the best of other countries”

— Senator Jim Risch, United States Senator from Idaho, United States Senate

“There are people who would give up their freedoms for a different standard of living. In my opinion, if they do that, they’ll end up with neither”

— Senator Jim Risch, United States Senator from Idaho, United States Senate

18:00-18:30

Halifax Chat

Speakers

Vice President, Halifax International Security Forum
Moderator
Mr. Robin Shepherd

Mr. Robin Shepherd

Robin Shepherd is the Senior Advisor to the Halifax International Security Forum. The author of two books – one on post-Communist transition in the former Czechoslovakia; the second on European relations with the State of Israel – he is preparing a third on the interplay between democracy and the digital revolution. Formerly the Moscow Bureau Chief of the Times of London, he joined the think tank world in Washington DC as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2003. Since then, he has held senior positions at a range of top think tanks in the United States, Britain, and continental Europe including Chatham House, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He has been closely associated with the Halifax Forum since its inception in 2009.

Senator from Idaho, United States Senate
Senator James E. Risch

Senator James E. Risch

Jim Risch, currently serving as Idaho’s 28th Senator, holds a longstanding commitment to public service and a passion for good government. Known for “pragmatic decision-making,” Risch is what his peers call a “no-nonsense, get-the-job-done leader” with more than four decades of experience in elected office. He has been recognized by the National Journal as the “Most Conservative” Senator in the United States Senate for two years in a row. Senator Risch was elected to the United States Senate in November of 2008, after serving as Idaho State senator, lieutenant governor and governor. He serves on five Senate Committees, including the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, giving Idaho a continued voice in legislation that dramatically shapes the West. Risch’s other committee assignments include the Committee on Foreign Relations, Select Committee on Intelligence, Select Committee on Ethics, and ranking member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

This year’s first Halifax Chat kicked off with a question: Can China continue to play dirty games with western businesses and get away with it? Moderator Robin Shepherd and U.S. Senator Jim Risch explored this question in depth. They agreed that the international community must be more forceful in insisting that China follow established rules and abide by global trade norms. This is particularly crucial in regard to intellectual property, which China correctly sees as the currency in the 21st century. When the world does not give it what it wants, China has shown that it is more than willing to take it. When will the world say that enough is enough?

18:30

Shuttle to Pier 21

LOCATION: Westin Lobby

18:30-19:30

Reception

LOCATION: Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21

19:30

Gala Dinner

Presentation of the Builder Award
 to Ms. Nancy C. Southern, Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer of ATCO Ltd. and Canadian Utilities Limited; Recognition of the 2019 Class of Peace With Women Fellows 

21:30

Night Owl Sessions

Climate: Change

SPEAKERS:

    • Dr. Chaitanya Giri, Fellow, Space and Ocean Studies, Indian Council on Global Relations, Gateway House
    • Senator Angus King, United States Senator for Maine, United States Senate
    • MODERATOR: Ms. Molly Ball, Political Correspondent, TIME and Political Analyst, CNN

Hong Kong’s Summer, China’s Fall

SPEAKERS:

    • Ambassador Joseph Hockey, Ambassador of Australia to the United States, Embassy of Australia to Washington
    • Mr. Dolkun Isa, President, World Uyghur Congress
    • Dr. Lobsang Sangay, President, Central Tibetan Administration
    • Dr. Daniel Twining, President, International Republican Institute
    • MODERATOR: Ms. Karen DeYoung, Associate Editor and Senior National Security Correspondent, The Washington Post

Make Elections Safe Again

SPEAKERS:

    • Mr. Michael Abramowitz, President, Freedom House
    • Ms. Lisa Kaplan, Founder and CEO, Alethea Group
    • Mr. Vladimir Milov, Economic Advisor to Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny
    • Admiral Michael Rogers, 2nd Commander, United States Cyber Command
    • MODERATOR: Mr. Blake Hounshell, Editor in Chief, POLITICO Magazine

 

Clippings

From Hanoi to Halifax, everyone is worried about China
Josh Rogin

This weekend, the Halifax International Security Forum will convene in Canada to kick off a new effort to fill that gap. Trump’s new national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, will be in attendance. Halifax Forum President Peter Van Praagh told me the effort will focus on how democracies can come together to confront a rising authoritarian China.

Halifax security conference has unscripted moments that help spread democracy, says organizer
Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press

It’s often the unscripted moments at the Halifax International Security Forum that support the spread of democratic values, according to Robin Shepherd. The vice president of the annual gathering recalls one such instant during a November 2016 session with the late U.S. senator John McCain, as the Republican issued a growling warning to then president-elect Donald Trump.

Revolutions of our time: Freedom without US leadership
Nancy Lindborg

A number of recent reports paint a grim picture for the future of global democracy. According to democracy and human-rights watchdog Freedom House, 2018 marked the 13th consecutive year of decline in global freedom.

Thomas S. Axworthy: As Russia and China step up their Arctic activity, Canada misses the boat
Thomas S. Axworthy

The annual Halifax International Security Forum runs from Friday to Sunday of this week. To mark the occasion, the National Post is presenting a series of essays written by conference participants. Today, Thomas S. Axworthy explains how Canada’s Arctic neighbours are outpacing our own northern efforts.

West's tense relationship with China expected to dominate Halifax security forum
Murray Brewster

How Western democracies deal with the conundrum that is China is expected to be a major focus of the annual Halifax International Security Forum, which convenes for the eleventh time this weekend in the Nova Scotia capital.

Security conference hosted by defence minister Harjit Sajjan gathers in Halifax
Staff, The Canadian Press

The Halifax International Security Forum begins its three-day annual conference on Friday with some high-profile guests in attendance. Re-appointed Liberal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is the official host of the 11th annual event, which is expecting participants from more than 80 democratic countries. Former Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko will speak on Sunday. Richard Spencer, secretary of the U.S. navy, will also be at the gathering, as will Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the chairman of the U.S. Senate’s foreign relations committee.

More News & Press

In Pictures

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