He has also served on the Standing Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council and as an adviser to the Canadian Ditchley Foundation, the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Centre and the Asian Development Bank.

[8] At the time of his appointment to the Senate, Woo was a senior fellow in public policy at the Asian Institute of Research at the University of British Columbia.

[12] While calling the recent treatment of Uyghurs "repressive — perhaps even genocidal — acts", Woo argued that the motion would not "add any actionable measure specific to the Uighur situation in China" and that it was "simply an exercise in labeling".

[13][14] However, he criticized the situation in Xinjiang by drawing parallels with the Canadian Indian residential school system and mentioned that "repression and forced assimilation only lead to longer-term problems for society at large".

[16] In an e-mail response to the National Post, Woo "encourage[d] Canadians to reflect on whether a foreign influence transparency registry can be developed in such a way as to not punish or stigmatize certain communities, stifle legitimate political debate, and foster parochialism."

[16] Cheuk Kwan of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China said that Woo's statement was reminiscent of how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responds to criticism, "using racism as a deflection from the proper issue at hand.