Christine Loh Kung-wai, SBS, OBE, JP, is a former Hong Kong Legislative Councillor, founder and CEO of Civic Exchange, founder of the Citizens Party, and founder of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor. From 2012 to 2017, she was Under Secretary for the Environment in the government of CY Leung. Until her appointment as Undersecretary for the Environment, Loh was CEO of Civic Exchange, the Hong Kong think tank that she co-founded in 2000. She was named "Woman of the Year for 2006" by Hong Kong Business. She has worked in many areas, including law, business, politics, media and the non-profit sector, but is best known as a leading voice in public policy in Hong Kong, particularly in promoting democracy and environmental protection. She has long been associated with the campaign to save Hong Kong's Harbour from excessive land reclamation and overdevelopment. In 2017, following the end of her official role, she is an adjunct professor in the Division of Environment and Sustainability at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and is said to be revising her book Underground Front: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, first published in 2010.
Education and professional career
Loh attended St. Paul's Convent School in Causeway Bay, and later Island School in Mid-levels, Hong Kong. She then went to Bedford High School in the UK. She later attended the University of Hull, City University of Hong Kong and the University of Hull and was trained as a lawyer but she worked for 12 years as a commodities trader, rising to become managing director and later director of business development. Loh spent fourteen years in the commercial world, holding top regional posts in commodities trading at Philipp Brothers and Phibro Energy – the physical commodities trading arms of US multinational Salomon, Inc. — before joining a Hong Kong company, where she headed the special projects division between 1992 and 1994. In April 2006, she was elected by shareholders of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing to be a director of the company.
Political career
Loh was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1992. In 1995 and 1998 she ran in two direct elections and won by large margins. She co-founded, in 1995, the Society for Protection of the Harbour and was responsible for creating and sponsoring the historic Protection of the Harbour Ordinance. While part of the democratic camp in LegCo, she took a less confrontational approach than some, preferring to keep open lines of communication with the so-called pro-China camp. In 2000, she and Lisa Hopkinson co-founded a Hong Kong-based non-profit think tank, Civic Exchange, and once again entered the political spotlight, but outside of the LegCo. She resigned as its chief executive on 11 September 2012 upon her appointment as Undersecretary for the Environment in the administration of CY Leung, taking up her new post the following day. At the same time, she resigned from all her positions in other non-profit organisations, academic affiliations, and non-executive directorships in commercial firms. She left the government at the end of CY Leung's term, in July 2017.
Other activities
From 1991, Loh hosted a public affairs radio programme and a variety of TV programmes.
