A veteran Chinese diplomat and an expert of international law, Xue Hanqin, was elected judge of the International Court of Justice on Tuesday.

A veteran Chinese diplomat and an expert of international law, Xue Hanqin, was elected judge of the International Court of Justice, June 29, 2010.

Xue, a member of the International Law Commission, was elected by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council in separate voting.

Xue won all 15 votes in the Security Council on Tuesday morning, Claude Heller, the Mexican UN ambassador who holds the rotating Security Council presidency for June, announced after the 15- nation Council cast the secret ballots.

Heller, at the open Council meeting, also read a letter from the president of the General Assembly, Ali Treki, who said that Xue won a majority of votes in the 192-nation UN body.

Xue "was elected member of the International Court of Justice," Heller said.

The election was conducted under the relevant Security Council resolution to fill the vacancy after Judge Shi Jiuyong, a Chinese, resigned on May 28.

She is the only female among the 15 judges of the International Court of Justice, and the third Chinese to serve on the Court.

Xue told reporters here that she thanked all those who voted for her and said that she will carry out her duty under the UN Charter and the Statute of the Court.

Located in The Hague, in the Netherlands, the International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions to the United Nations and its specialized agencies. Its Statute is an integral part of the United Nations Charter.

The Court is composed of 15 judges elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council, voting independently. They are chosen on the basis of their qualifications, and care is taken to ensure that the principal legal systems of the world are represented in the Court. No two judges may be from the same country. The judges serve a nine-year term and may be re-elected. They cannot engage in any other occupation during their term of office.

In December 2008, Xue was appointed as China's first ambassador to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Her previous job was ambassador to the Netherlands and representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. She has also been head of the department of treaty and law in the Foreign Ministry.

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