Chien-Huei Wu is a Research Professor, Institute of European and American Studies (IEAS), Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. He received his PhD in Laws in European University Institute in Florence in 2009. He now coordinates of US-Taiwan-China research group in the IEAS and his research interests cover EU external relations, US-China economic competition, and international economic law. He has been a visiting fellow at Georgetown University, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law, Heidelberg. He recently published Law and Politics on Export Restrictions: WTO and Beyond (CUP 2021). He spoke before the European Parliament on the future of EU-Taiwan trade relations in 2019. Frank Gaenssmantel is Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and International Organisation at the University of Groningen since 2010. He previously held a position as Research Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies on Contemporary China (Centro di Alti Studi sulla Cina Contemporanea, CASCC) in Turin and taught at the School of Advanced International and Area Studies at East China Normal University in Shanghai. His research interests include European and Chinese foreign policies, China-EU relations, foreign policy analysis, and international trade relations. He received his PhD from the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence. Francesco Giumelli is Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations and International Organization at the University of Groningen. He was previously Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute and Fellow at the Kroc Institute of Notre Dame University. He is the author of The Success of Sanctions: Lessons Learned from the EU Experience (Routledge, 2013) and Coercing, Constraining and Signalling: Explaining UN and EU Sanctions After the Cold War (ECPR Press, 2011). He published on sanctions, private military, and security companies in the Journal of Common Market Studies, International Affairs, International Relations and International Peacekeeping. Beyond his work on sanctions, Francesco studies issues concerning the role of private actors in security and illicit trade.