25 Facts About Raymond Huo

Raymond Huo is a New Zealand politician who was a Member of Parliament from 2008 to 2014 and from 2017 to 2020.

Raymond Huo was first elected in 2008 as the New Zealand Labour Party's first MP of Chinese descent.

Raymond Huo was the third Chinese New Zealander to enter Parliament, after the National Party's Pansy Wong and ACT's Kenneth Wang.

Raymond Huo was born in Qianshan, an eastern part of China, where his mother still lives.

Raymond Huo's father was a doctor, and his mother was a head nurse.

Raymond Huo worked as a journalist for The New Zealand Herald where he was the Asian Affairs reporter.

Raymond Huo subsequently obtained a MLitt majoring in political communication, and an LLB from the University of Auckland.

Raymond Huo was elected via the Labour Party list at the 2008 election and appointed as spokesman for Statistics, the Law Commission and Chinese Community Affairs.

Raymond Huo sat on the select committee for Law and Order and a Trustee on the Board of the Asia:New Zealand Foundation.

Raymond Huo was initially mooted for the Labour nomination in the new electorate of Botany, but eventually chose to stand as a list-only candidate.

Raymond Huo was a strong advocate for Ethnic Representation on the new board of the Auckland Council Super City and submitted the Local Government Amendment Bill to the House.

Thuten Kesang, spokesperson for the New Zealand Tibetan community, accused Raymond Huo of "promoting communist China progaganda" and said he would lay a formal complaint with the Labour Party.

In February 2011, Raymond Huo urged the New Zealand Government to overhaul the Export Education sector which is worth over $2.3 billion to the country's economy.

Raymond Huo believes that New Zealand has a reputation for "ghetto education" in Asian countries and must change this or risk losing hundreds of International students from the Asian region.

Raymond Huo urged Prime Minister John Key to incorporate the Education Amendment Bill into the current Education Amendment Bill, citing the importance of the international student market.

Raymond Huo was re-elected in 2011, but due to his party's poor showing in the 2014 election lost his seat in Parliament and returned to legal practice.

Raymond Huo was the third-highest ranked Labour candidate not to enter parliament at the 2014 election.

Raymond Huo was declared elected on 15 March 2017 and sworn in as an MP on 16 March 2017, and appointed Labour's spokesman on Land Information.

When Raymond Huo's party formed the new government he was appointed chairperson of the Justice Committee, although he stepped down from that position when the Committee inquired into foreign interference in New Zealand elections.

In September 2017, New Zealand China expert and University of Canterbury political scientist Dr Anne-Marie Brady alleged in a conference paper that Raymond Huo was a pro-China influencer who helped to advance China's united front strategy of co-opting political and business elites in New Zealand.

Raymond Huo had previously been part of the Ching's legal team after allegations that Ching had misused government connections while standing as a Labour candidate in 2005.

Raymond Huo, who had been named as a key pro-China influencer in Brady's conference paper, had declined her request on the procedural grounds that she had submitted her application five months after the final deadline on 23 September 2018.

Raymond Huo announced on 21 July 2020 that he would not contest the 2020 general election, stating that he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Raymond Huo regarded his role in the establishment of the New Zealand Chinese Language Week in 2014 as one of the highlights of his parliamentary career.

Raymond Huo has published a number of books and articles including, Now in New Zealand, Something to Crow About, Jinma: Philosophy on Wisdom and Human Life, Simplified American novels with Chinese notes: Love of Life, Life in the woods and five others, Lexicon of Contemporary English, Collected Works with Equivalent Chinese, Lexicon of Contemporary English, a Concise Edition, and The New Zealand Quartet.