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UN Official
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(CNSPHOTO) |
Xue Hanqin, a senior Chinese diplomat specializing in international law, has been elected the first chairwoman of the International Law Commission at the UN body's 62nd annual session.
Xue, 55, was director general of the Law and Treaty Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999-2003. She was first elected to the International Law Commission in 2001 and reelected in 2006.
Now Chinese Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Xue had also served as ambassador to the Kingdom of Netherlands and representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The International Law Commission was established by the UN General Assembly in 1948 for the "promotion of the progressive development of international law and its codification." Its members are persons who possess recognized competence and qualifications in both doctrinal and practical aspects of international law.
Secrets Watchdog
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(CNSPHOTO) |
Xia Yong has been appointed as director of the upgraded National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets (NAPSS). The State Council announced the appointment on May 14.
The NAPSS was recently upgraded to a vice-ministerial agency of the State Council after China's top legislature amended the Law on Guarding State Secrets, in order to increase its authority to coordinate interdepartmental work in related fields.
Xia, 49, had served as chief of the former NPASS since 2005. A jurisconsult-turned-official, his efforts to promote the reduction of the number of state secrets and boost government transparency have won widespread praise.
Xia was deputy director of the Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China before he moved to the NPASS. Before that, he taught for 12 years at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law between 1986 and 1998 and then worked at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as its deputy director and director until 2004, mainly studying human rights and the rule of law.
Badminton Star
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(ZHANG CHEN) |
Lin Dan, who has helped China win its fourth consecutive Thomas Cup (Men's Team World Badminton Championships), has become the world's most dominant player, said one of his longtime rivals.
"It is indeed Lin's era now," said Indonesia's former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, who was crushed by Lin in less than an hour in the final of the biennial tournament on May 16.
Lin, 26, nicknamed "Super Dan" by his fans, is the most prolific winner of men's world titles of all time in China, having captured 13 crowns. He is the only male player in badminton history to have won three consecutive titles at the World Championships in 2006, 2007 and 2009. He clinched the men's singles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Lin has often topped the world-rankings list since 2002, although Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei overtook him in 2006 and 2009.
Lin's next major goal is to win the men's singles title at the Asian Games, one of the few big ones still missing from his collection, in south China's Guangzhou in November.
"The deadline is only five years away, and we are facing huge challenges at this critical moment."
Chinese Minister of Health Chen Zhu, calling for a "sense of urgency" in international community's efforts to realize the UN's Millennium Development Goals
"China has almost lost its role in the international trade system in setting commodity prices."
Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, when proposing measures to increase China's negotiating powers with overseas commodities suppliers on May 17
"A factory that disconsiders the integrity of human life and treats workers just as part of production lines is the cruelest sweatshop more than anything else."
Qiu Feng, a commentator with Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily News, hitting out at the rigid, quasi-military corporate culture of Shenzhen-based Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contract manufacturer operated by Taiwan electronics giant Hon Hai Group, where nine employees committed suicide in the first five months of this year
"Ninety-nine percent of European people are delighted to have Chinese goods and the EU's imports from China are beneficial to EU consumers, and it also help keep European producers awake and competitive."
Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission, at a forum on the sidelines of the World Expo in Shanghai
"This agreement should be regarded positively and there is no need for sanctions now that we (Turkey and Brazil) have made guarantees and the low enriched uranium will remain in Turkey."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu, suggesting there was "no need" for further UN sanctions against Iran after Iran, Turkey and Brazil signed a nuclear fuel swap deal in Tehran on May 17, under which Iran will ship most of its low enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for 20 percent uranium fuel needed for its reactor
"If the various estimates we have received...come true, then we are in the situation where, 40 years down the line, we effectively are out of fish."
Pavan Sukhdev, head of the UN Environmental Program's green-economy initiative, saying the world faces the possibility of fishless oceans by 2050 | 
