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Anna Manwah Lo MBE
Anna Manwah Lo MBE ( (born 17 June 1950) is an
Alliance PartyThe Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....
politician in
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Born in
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, of
ChineseThe term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
ethnicity, Lo was elected to the
Northern Ireland AssemblyThe Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
for
South BelfastBelfast South is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973...
in the
2007 assembly electionThe third elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 7 March 2007 when 108 new members were elected. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, along with the Alliance Party, increase their...
. She was the first ethnic minority politician elected at a national level in Northern Ireland, and the first politician born in
East AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
elected to any legislative body in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
[Although she had been referred to in some media as "the first Chinese person to be elected as a lawmaker anywhere in Europe", she came only after Ing Yoe Tan]Ing Yoe Tan, born in The Hague on 18 April 1948, is a Dutch lawmaker, member of the Senate for the Labour Party since 1998.She comes from an East Indies-Chinese family established in the Dutch East Indies but Dutch was the most spoken language among family members.-Sources:...
, member of the Dutch Senate since 1999, Varina Tjon-A-TenVarina Tjon-A-Ten, born in Paramaribo on November 29, 1952, is a Dutch politician who sat as a member of the House of Representatives for the Dutch Labour Party from 2003 to 2006....
, Dutch lawmaker from 2003 to 2006, and Mei Li VosMei Li Vos is a Dutch politician. She previously was a member of the House of Representatives for the Dutch Labour Party , a trade unionist and an editorialist.-Youth 1970-1988:...
, Dutch lawmaker since March 1, 2007. The first member of a European government with Chinese roots was Khee Liang PhoaKhee Liang Phoa, born in Rotterdam on May 3, 1955, is a Dutch politician, secretary of state for emancipation and family affairs in the first Balkenende cabinet ....
, Dutch State Secretary for Emancipation and Family Affairs in 2002-2003. Lo is the first Chinese person elected to a European parliament who was actually born in China, technically Hong Kong, a British territory at the time of her birth. There have been three members of the unelected House of Lords of Chinese ethnicity, two of which from colonial Hong Kong or having ancestry from colonial Hong Kong, the first being Lydia DunnLydia Selina Dunn, Baroness Dunn, DBE, JP was the Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council and Executive Council in Hong Kong in 1985-1988 and 1988-1995, after Rogerio Hyndman Lobo and Chung Sze Yuen respectively...
who received her peerage in 1990. So far no China-born politician has been elected to a European parliament. Lo is also a social worker and former chairperson of the Northern Ireland Chinese Welfare Association. A Taoist, Lo has resided in Northern Ireland for more than 30 years.
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