As a fleet of between 600 and 1,000 mostly ageing vessels continues to sail under the umbrella of suspected flags of convenience to evade international sanctions against Russia, the role of Hong Kong in undermining the measures has become clear according to a much-cited report by the [U.S.]-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. The findings are largely based on data from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit devoted to identifying “illicit networks that threaten global peace and security”.
The report claims that Hong Kong’s exports of semiconductors to Russia almost doubled after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Between August and December 2023, 40 per cent of the $2 billion worth of shipments to Moscow contained goods on the US and EU’s lists of advanced components – including semiconductors, computer processors, digital storage units, and integrated circuits – many of them sought by Russia for its war effort. The report also identified numerous locally registered companies that are working with Russia, Iran and North Korea to facilitate their shipping needs, including the transport of sanctioned oil and gas.
“Simply put, Hong Kong has gone rogue,” concludes the 62-page report, Beneath the Harbor: Hong Kong’s Leading Role in Sanctions Evasion. Released in July and written by Samuel Bickett, a lawyer and former political prisoner in Hong Kong
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Hong Kong’s China-friendly administration makes no pretence about observing sanctions. “The Government does not have the legal authority to, and it will not implement, unilateral sanctions imposed by other countries,” a spokesman for the administration said
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Bickett’s conclusion: “Hong Kong has become essential to Russia’s efforts to evade sanctions by offering a politically safe and corporate-friendly location to set up subsidiaries for the ownership of shipping vessels.”
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