After completing her secondary school education in All Saints Secondary School and tertiary education in the United States of America, Datuk Christina Liew graduated with her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Bond University, Australia. She became an Advocate & Solicitor at the High Court of Malaya and later on in the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak before founding the firm
CJ Liew & Co, where she practised law for 20 years.
Prior to her foray into politics, Datuk Christina Liew was actively involved in causes supporting the development of women and vulnerable communities in the state. At present her service to the community encompasses a
wide-range of projects and initiatives designed to enhance the wellbeing of the people and to develop tourism products for the state.
Datuk Christina ventured into politics with the goal of improving accountability in government. When PKR spread its wings to Sabah in 1999, she contested in the Likas state by-election under the
PKR banner in 2001, and subsequently in the Gaya parliamentary by-election in 2002.
She went on to stand for election in the 11th (2004) and 12th (2008) General Elections, followed by her inaugural electoral victory in the
13th General Elections in 2013. As of 2020, she is currently the Vice-Chairperson of Pakatan Harapan (National), Chairperson of Pakatan Harapan Sabah, Chairperson of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah as well as Chairperson of PKR Kota Kinabalu Branch. Her political convictions are based on a platform of building a clean government focused on the development of the economy, infrastructure and community. Her consistent interest has been for the development and recognition of Sabah as a founding partner of Malaysia with special autonomies and the need for Sabah to be at the table of national government.
YB Datuk Christina Liew was one of several members of the State Assembly of Sabah in the Pakatan Harapan-Warisan-UPKO alliance which went on to form the new state government following the
14th General Election in May 2018.
She was appointed Deputy Chief Minister, as the first Chinese woman in Sabah to occupy this position. She was also named Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, and was the first woman in Sabah to hold this ministerial portfolio.
Currently, Datuk Christina is also the Member of Parliament for P.190 Tawau and prior to the dissolution of the State Assembly in July 2020, was a State Assemblywoman for N.15 Api-Api.