They were in their early thirties when they volunteered to move from the capital city to Qianshan to help the local population fight schistosoma, a parasitic disease.

His father—an "intellectual"—was ordered to stand at the gates of the hospital for an hour, three times a day with a white board stating "counter-revolutionary medical expert".

Huo credits his time in the small rural town as a major influence on his desire for free-will that he has carried into his politics and world view.

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

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

[20] 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.

[28] Brady also claimed that Huo's decision to translate Labour's 2017 election campaign slogan "Let's do it" into Xi Jinping's quote "roll up your sleeves and work hard" carried sexual connotations.

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.

Huo and the other Labour members of the Justice Select Committee voted against Brady's application, triggering criticism from the opposition National Party electoral reform spokesperson Nick Smith.

[34] In response to media coverage, Huo reversed his earlier decision and extended an invitation for Dr Brady to speak to select committee members.

[37][38] In 2021, it was reported that his retirement from Parliament came as the result of a secret deal between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Opposition Leader Todd Muller after intelligence agencies raised concerns about his and National MP Jian Yang's relationships with the Chinese Government.