Louise Ho Pui-shan (, born 31 December 1967) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

civil servant and principal official, currently serving as

Commissioner of Customs and Excise The Commissioner of Customs and Excise () is the head of the Customs and Excise Department, which is responsible for monitoring the movement of goods into and out of Hong Kong, customs and excise, duties and investigation of pirated products. ...

, the first woman to hold that post.

Early years

Ho was born on 31 December 1967, and studied in

Ying Wa Girls' School Ying Wa Girls' School () is an HKCCCC secondary day school for girls in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. The campus is located at 76 Robinson Road, Mid-levels. Total enrollment currently stands at slightly under 1,000. It is one of the 22 Grant Scho ...

, before graduating from the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

with

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

Government career

Ho joined the Customs and Excise Department in February 1991 as Inspector of Customs and Excise in February 1991, and was chosen as the best recruit at the passing out parade from Customs And Excise Training School. Ho was promoted to Superintendent in 2010, and later in 2013 to Senior Superintendent to handle parallel trading. She was awarded with Meritorious Service Medals () and directly promoted to Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Excise in 2017, skipping the Chief Superintendent rank, and was further promoted to Deputy Commissioner two years later. On 21 October 2021, Louise Ho was appointed as the first

, and was inaugurated with the

National Emblem of the People's Republic of China The National Emblem of the People's Republic of China contains in a red circle a representation of Tiananmen Gate, the entrance gate to the Forbidden City, where Mao Zedong declared the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 19 ...

after the amendment to National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance was passed. She told reporters after inauguration ceremony that smuggling lobsters from Hong Kong to China will undermine Chinese trade restrictions against Australia, and endanger the national security, hence the customs has intensified the crackdown on so. As the Chinese Government has been claiming the ban on Australian lobsters was over fears of elevated traces of minerals and metals since October 2020, comments from Ho were the first official remarks that suggest the targeting of Australian lobsters was motivated by political interests, not health or contamination fears. Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan, as a result, asked Beijing whether Australia was economically sanctioned. Ho later insisted food security is part of national security, argued that her comments were misinterpreted and the authorities will not tolerate so.

Family

Louise Ho, who was Assistant Superintendent in Customs Department at that time, met Chief Immigration Officer

Erick Tsang Erick Tsang Kwok-wai (; born 1 September 1963) is a Hong Kong government official. Since 2020, he has been Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, one of the principal officials of Hong Kong. Prior to that, he was Director of Immig ...

at work. The duo got married while Tsang was in posting at Office of the Hong Kong Government in Beijing, and finally registered their marriage in 2007. Tsang and Ho did not go on honeymoon, and had no children because of work. They are the first and so far the only pair of couples to serve simultaneously as "principal officials" of the special administrative region.https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/181777/Louise-Ho-Pui-shan-named-Hong-Kong%E2%80%99s-first-female-Customs-chief https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2177000/hong-kong-customs-blazes-trail-women-law-enforcement https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3153097/hong-kong-gets-its-first-female-customs-chief-louise-ho

Honour

* C.M.S.M. (1 July 2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, Louise Hong Kong civil servants Hong Kong women civil servants Government officials of Hong Kong Living people 1967 births Alumni of the University of Hong Kong