Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 6) — Malacañang defended its plan to elect China’s candidate to a seat at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a global panel of legal experts based in The Hague that settles legal disputes among member states of the United Nations.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed that the Philippine contingent has been ordered to support the candidacy of China’s Xue Hanqin, a legal luminary who has held key posts globally.
“The support given to the Chinese candidate is because of the proven track record of Judge Xue, who is already a sitting ICJ judge, but also a further manifestation of the very close relationship between the Philippines and China,” Roque said during his Monday briefing.
The ICJ judge once served as China’s Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Roque also vouched for her “competence, probity and integrity,” saying that Xue also served as president of the Asian Society of International Law like him.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin, Jr. said over the weekend that he directed members of the Philippine mission to New York to vote for the Chinese representative to be part of the 15 judges of the ICJ, a body backed by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. Other U.N. member-states can nominate candidates.
Xue is already a vice president of the ICJ and has been part of the court since June 2010. Members serve a term of nine years.
She once spoke against the Philippines’ arbitration case that contested China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea.
In 2016, an international tribunal junked China’s claims and its “nine-dash line” map.
